


Squeaky Brakes

by Some_Cookie_Crumbz



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Biphobia; chapters where this theme appears will have a warning at the start, Eventual Smut, M/M, Mechanic!Hunk, Original Child Character in Use, Other ships will be mentioned at start of each chapter, Since I don't want these showing up in those ships tags when they aren't the main focus, SingleDaddy!Keith, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2019-06-20 22:03:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 41,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15543111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Some_Cookie_Crumbz/pseuds/Some_Cookie_Crumbz
Summary: A fic where Keith is a single father, struggling to find balance and happiness in all aspects of his life, and Hunk is the polite mechanic he meets after a car accident. From there, the two begin to take a shine to one another and try their hand at being together. Wacky shenanigans ensue between the antics of an opinionated three-and-a-half year old, extended family drama, and the regular perils that come with entering a relationship.Dedicated to the amazing blackberry_peachx because it was her contributions that helped me realize the greatness of Heith.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blackberry_peachx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackberry_peachx/gifts).



> Allurance and Shatt referenced/ shown in this chapter.

Chapter One

 

Keith had been going about his day, happy as an exhausted clam, when the Jackass in the Toyota had decided to run the light and slam right into the front of his car. He’d had a green arrow to turn but apparently Jackass didn’t think that was fair, since he’d missed his green light, and tried to speed through. Instead he hit Keith’s Civic right in the hood with so much force it sent him spinning, as if he were trapped in some horrific tilt-a-whirl paired with a soundtrack of honking horns, until it skid to a stop in the middle of the intersection. His eyes snapped open once it stopped and the terrified shrieking from the backseat was the only sound that filled the car. “Emily!” He wheezed, scrambling to unhook his seatbelt and nearly throwing himself into the back seat.

She looked up at him, her eyes wide and glossy with tears, then hiccupped. “Daddy!” She wailed, reaching towards him as best she could despite the straps of her car seat.

“It’s okay, baby girl, I’m coming,” He said quickly, turning and shoving his door open. He could see Jackass, some muscle-bound dipshit with a shaved head and muscle shirt, starting to grab for the driver’s side door handle of his own truck to get back in his vehicle. “You stay _right fucking there_! Move _another muscle_ and I’ll _break your fucking calf_!” He bellowed, pointing at the other accusingly. He normally avoided using foul language in front of Emi but this was a special situation.

The other driver held his hands up and took a step back from the door, staring him down with a mix of anger and surprise. Keith could see another driver darting over on the phone, grateful that someone had stopped to help, then ducked back into the car. He slipped in and set one hand against her car seat while the other reached out to cup her cheek, poor girl still blubbering in her distress. “Emi, baby, does anything hurt?” He asked, other hand moving to try and shakily unlatch her car seat.

“I banged my head on my seat!” She choked out, taking in a shuddering breath before she could start up on another set of sobs. He finally got the clasp undone and carefully hoisted her out of the seat and pulled her to him. She latched on to him, ducking her face into his shoulder and sobbing quietly against him. He held to her tight, one hand rubbing up along her back to try and soothe her, while the other gently held her head to keep her pressed against him.

He let his head tip back, glancing out the window and spotting the Good Samaritan approaching. He carefully slipped back out, still keeping Emi close, and met them halfway. “You two okay?” The young man asked, lips twisted down worriedly.

“She hit her head on her seat, but I think she’s more just shaken up,” He said, pausing to look down at her again. She tightened her grip on him and he pressed a small kiss to the top of her head, hoping to help soothe her a bit more. She wasn’t crying as bad as before, but she was still trembling something fierce.

“Nyma’s a nurse; I’m sure she can give you each a once-over to make sure there isn’t anything seriously wrong before the paramedics get here,” He said reassuringly, flashing a small smile at Emi as she peeked her head up, watching him with her big blue eyes. He waggled his fingers at the near four year old in greeting. She meekly pulled her pouty lip back in and waggled her fingers in return, her lips twitching like she wanted to smile back. A quick glance over the man’s shoulder showed a young woman, presumably Nyma, chewing Jackass a new one. There was something kind of charming about this small woman with long blonde pigtails tearing into some Gym Junkie to defend the honor of he and Emi that immediately endeared them both to him.

“The nerve of that Roided-Up meathead!” Nyma huffed as she walked over, hands on her hips. She perked up when she spotted the small family then hurried over, holding her hand up, palms exposed just in front of Emi. “Oh, my goodness! Little darling, are you okay?” She asked.

Keith adjusted his hold as Emi lifted her head a bit more to look at Nyma better, still sniffling and shaking. “I hit my head on my seat,” She whimpered.

“Oh, you poor thing,” Nyma cooed, her tone soft. She shifted a bit closer, nothing but soothing and maternal and starkly contrasting what Keith had witnessed seconds before, already starting to reach to move her hair to look. “What part of your head got hit?” She asked gently. Emi pointed towards the spot just to the left of her right temple and a rush of panic coursed through Keith. Oh God, what if she had a concussion? What if she lapsed into a coma? Or was slowly hemorrhaging into her own skull? “The paramedics are on the way now. Want us to stay with you until they get here?” Nyma asked, snapping Keith back to attention, her hands carefully rubbing at where Emi had indicated. She repeated the question to him when she realized that he’d been lost in his own head.

“Uh, y-yeah, thanks,” He breathed out, a small smile managing to find its way on to his face. Her partner had gone to examine what remained of the Civic’s front end, most of it seeming to be completely wrecked by the blow. Smoke billowed from the bent and warped hood, the front bumper having detached and rolled a few feet away too. He could also see one of the headlights dangling out by one lone electrical cord. He expected the whole thing to fall completely off before they were even out of the street. Nyma led him over to their Sedan, parked between the two vehicles with the hazards on to help direct traffic around them, and she helped him settle into the passenger seat with Emi while they wait.

She had just offered him two water bottles from an ice chest in the back seat when they heard the approach of sirens. The rest went by in a blur as he, the couple, and Jackass were each talked to by officers about what occurred, then looked over by the paramedics. In the end, they determined that Emily might have a bruise on her head, as well as some marks from her car seat doing its job, but that no real damage had been done, but did advise him to keep an eye out for any changes over the next few days. He was also written off as being fine, aside from some bruising from his own seat belt, and he took that with a relieved sigh. He felt smugly satisfied as the cops cuffed Jackass, and had to fight back a laugh at how Nyma actually waved coquettishly at Jackass as he was shut into the backseat of the cop car. “Do you think he’ll get hit with child abuse charges, too, Rolo?” She asked her companion as he returned from speaking with one of the officers.

“Maybe not child abuse, per se, but they’ll most likely slap him with endangering the welfare of a minor. Pairing that with the reckless driving charge, he’ll be staring down a pretty serious sentence,” Rolo, as he was called, said evenly. He then turned his attention to Keith and Emi again. “But I take it the two of you are okay, otherwise?”

“Yes, thank you so much,” Keith said, all sincerity. It was so rare for him to encounter strangers that were kind, but to have gone as far at these two had? He would have cried if he didn’t have several stress factors nipping at the back of his mind. He turned his attention to his car and sighed, the smoke having turned to slightly smaller plumes as it got closer to what he could only consider to be its dying breath. “No idea what I’ll be able to do about that, though.”

“Well, I already asked the police to tow it to the shop I work at. I’ll call ahead and let my boss know to be expecting you,” He mused lightly, jerking his thumb at the towing vehicle approaching the scene. “They do great work and I know for a fact they’re willing to work around tight budgets; the big guy’s got a compassionate heart, you see. If you’d like, Nyma and I can give you a ride there.”

Keith blinked then held a hand up. “I appreciate the offer, but I’ve already imposed enough. I wouldn’t want you to have to rearrange your whole vehicle for her car seat and then take the time to drive us over there,” He said, keeping his tone polite.

Nyma looked worried but opted against arguing with him on it, instead reaching into her purse and pulling out a small note pad. “Well, if you need anything, please let us know,” She insisted, writing some information on a page, tearing it off and offering it to him.

He blinked then smiled back shyly. “Thank you both, again, so much,” He said.

“Thank you!” Emi chimed in, smiling and sounding a bit more like herself. The shell-shock seemed to have worn off of her between taking to the police and medics, though it also could have been that she thought the sirens and flashing lights were cool.

Nyma beamed and Rolo reached out to gently ruffle Emi’s hair, tousling the wavy black locks. “It was our pleasure. You be good for your Daddy, okay?”

“Mkay!” She said back happily, reveling in the attention. Keith waved once more at Nyma and Rolo before heading over to the officers and the towing vehicle. He fished his phone from his back pocket to check the time and cursed internally. Shiro wouldn’t be going on break for at least another twenty minutes, so there was no where he’d be able to reach him for a ride. “Daddy, is Myra gonna be okay?” She asked quietly.

Myra was the name that Emi had picked out for their car back when Keith first got it almost a year ago, after trading in his previous car in for something a bit better suited for their needs. “I’m sure she will. We just have to take her to see a car doctor,” He answered.

“A car doctor?”

“Yeah, a car doctor. They’re also called mechanics,” He hummed, smiling when she nodded and repeated his words to herself in a quiet mumble. He looked at the officer and tow driver as he approached. “So, um, I’ve never been in a situation like this before so what do we need to do?” He asked, making sure he still sounded calm.

“Well, if you want, you can get your things out of the car and ride in the bed with me,” The tow-driver offered calmly.

“What about her car seat?” He asked, bouncing Emi just a bit. His arms were getting tired from carrying her around, but he also didn’t want to set her back down just yet.

“If you want, you could ride in the car while it’s being towed, if you’re uncomfortable with her being out of a seat,” The cop suggested. Keith opted against pointing out how his biggest two concerns were Emily’s safety as well as the legality of a child not being kept in a car seat to avoid stepping on the officer’s toes.

“I think we’ll do that, thanks,” He said, heading back to where the car was hooked up but not yet pulled up to its back tires. He got in and buckled Emily back up, then settled himself in beside him. A quick glance to the front of the car showed that the driver had moved the car into neutral already, and that the keys were still in the ignition. Just before the tower started pulling the car up on to its back wheels, he reached up and swiped his keys out. He then settled in beside her, sending a quick text to Shiro letting him know to call him when he officially went on his break. He then pulled up some videos on Youtube for Emily, leaning close and watching them with her.

When they arrived, he grabbed his school bag from the passenger seat, grabbed Emily’s playdate bag from the other side of the back seat, and then slipped out with her. He then sent a preemptive text of the address of the shop. His phone pinged with a text from Shiro, reading “???”, almost immediately after.

He led Emily inside and set her at one of the small chairs in the little lobby, setting their things in the seat beside her, then clicked on Shiro’s contact. There wasn’t anyone running the front desk, so he figured it’d be fine to make the call while he waited. “Hey, so, any chance you can leave work early?” He asked, looking out through a window as the tow driver spoke with one of the mechanics in the back.

“That depends. What’s going on?” Shiro asked, deciding against chiding Keith for his lack of pleasantries. He knew it wouldn’t get him anywhere.

“Me and Emi were in a car accident and I doubt they’ll have Myra up any time soon,” He said with a small sigh, turning away from the window to instead look at a corkboard. There were a bunch of fliers for upcoming monster truck rallies, charity races and classic car shows but nothing of particular interest to him. Emily watched him from her seat before opening her play bag and starting to rummage through in search of something while he was preoccupied.

“ _Oh, my God_! Are you two _okay_?” He asked frantically.

“Just some little bruises but we should heal up fine,” Keith said with a shrug, shifting to lift one of the posters to see the one behind it. Seemed to be a flier for some local band, but it didn’t offer much more than that.

Emily, having procured what she needed from the bag, quickly threw on her outfit and slunk behind the counter, looking for the door that would lead her back to where the car doctors were. Daddy didn’t think Myra would be feel better soon enough, and she figured that maybe she could help a little with pushing things along.

“What even _happened_? Where _were_ you?”

“Heading down Sixth, to take her over to Lance and Allura’s. I was making the left turn on a green arrow and this complete moron decided to try and blow the light. Hit the Civic hard enough we were actually spinning,”

“Holy shit, you two are lucky you weren’t seriously hurt,” Shiro breathed in quiet relief. “Well, I can ask Iverson if it’s okay if I can dip out at least long enough to cart you two back home. Or take you to Lance and Allura’s, if you think the playdate will be a good idea. Were you still planning on going to school tonight?”

Keith hummed thoughtfully. “Not too sure about school. And I kinda just want you to take Emily over, since I know how much she likes playing with Alfor, and so that I have the time to make the calls I need to make. I still need to call the insurance, and I figured I’d email my professor about the situation so I don’t get docked all my points for the day,” He explained, shifting to see what other fliers were hidden under the more recent ones.

“You’ll want to call Mrs. Wickerton and let her know, too. She won’t be too happy if she finds out secondhand later on,” He pointed out calmly. Keith let out a long, drawn-out groan at the thought, earning a tired sigh from the older man. “Keith, I know that dealing with her is a pain but you need to play nice. If you don’t, you know she could-!”

“She _won’t_ because I’d _never let her_. And I know I’m going to have to, I’m just dreading the call,” Keith sighed, turning back to the interior and freezing when he saw a certain four year old was missing.

................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Emily looked around as she slipped into the back, looking from car to car in search of Myra. When she spotted the familiar grey car off to the far side of the garage, her eyes lit up and she darted over. She reached out to pat the car’s front bumper but recoiled in surprise to find it was completely gone. She then tutted quietly when she saw that one of the headlights was missing as well. “Well, let’s see how everything sounds,” She said, carefully tugging up the sleeves of her doctor’s coat and putting her stethoscope against the small sliver of metal above where the hood used to lock into place.

“Checking out the vitals for me?” An amused voice chimed, causing her to jump and squeak. When she glanced up, she was greeted by a young man wearing the same olive green uniform she’d seen the other mechanics wearing. There was a little oval stiched on to it that said “Hunk”. She blinked slowly and tilted her head, watching as the mechanic walked around her over to a small work bench off to the side.

“Are you the car doctor? My Daddy says that car doctors are called mechanics,” She said, waiting a moment before following after.

Hunk, as she assumed that was his name, chuckled as he grabbed a small rolling stool from the work space and rolled it back over to the car. “Correct on both fronts. You must be really smart to remember big words like that,” He said with an impressed whistle.

Emily preened at the compliment. “Yeah, I’m pretty smart,” She said, continuing to patter along after him. She watched curiously as the other set the stool right in front of the car and then smiled down at her. “What’s that for?”

“It’s for you, so you can oversee what I’m doing,” He mused before reaching down and picking her up, setting her on the seat. “I figure you want to see how things are done, one doctor to another, right?”

Emily’s eyes lit up and she grinned brightly. “Can I really?”

“Yes, but only if you promise to keep your hands to yourself. Some of this stuff isn’t safe for you to be touching, okay?” He asked with a small grin.

Emily nodded, opening her mouth to say something, before the door from the front of the garage was thrown open and she saw her Daddy hovering in the doorway. She smiled and waved at him. “Hi, Daddy!” She called.

He darted over, looking a mix of frantic and frustrated. “Emily Kogane, you are not supposed to go wandering off like that!” He said, volume level but his tone stern. He reached to pick her up and looked over at Hunk. “I’m so sorry she bothered you. She normally doesn’t run off like this.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Hunk chuckled with a smile, motioning that he leave Emi where she was. “I never said she was being a bother. If she wants to sit in and watch how it’s done, I don’t have a problem with it so long as she follows the rules.”

“I appreciate you trying to be nice, but she shouldn’t be out here without anyone else to watch her. I mean, I’m sure that your work requires a lot of focus and-!”

“Hey, relax, Daddio,” Hunk said playfully, skirting around Keith to his work station and dragging the regular chair he had over as well. He indicated it with a dramatic flourish and small pat on the top of the back rest. “I never said you couldn’t stay here, too. That way, you can watch her while she watches me.”

“But who will watch Daddy?” Emi chimed in curiously.

Hunk blinked then grinned back at her. “I’ll watch him!”

“So you’ll watch Daddy, while Daddy watches me, and I watch you?” She asked with a tilt of her head.

He laughed and nodded. “Exactly!” He mused before heading over and looking at the hood. He released a low whistle, seeming almost impressed. “Wow, really sent you for a spin, huh?” He mumbled, more to himself than to Keith and Emily.

“I’m honestly kind of concerned that there may have been serious damage to the engine or something, because it was smoking up a storm,” Keith said while sliding into the seat he’d been offered. Emily was bouncing a bit in her own spot, the stethoscope swaying side to side like mad. He smiled and gently settled a hand on her shoulder to try and get her sit down. “Be careful, Emi. I don’t want you to roll your way right off the chair.”

She looked up at him and giggled, nodding before shifting again to watch as Hunk managed to get the hood up and out the rest of the way. “Rolo mentioned that when he called ahead. Wanted to get a look at this one personally, considering what happened. There may be that old saying about how there’s always fire where there’s smoke, but that isn’t completely right,” He mused lightly.

There were bits of conversation scattered over the next half hour or so, both between Hunk and Keith and Hunk and Emily. Emily had always been a curious child, even as an infant, and loved watching how this or that was done by someone else. And Hunk was surprisingly patient and diligent about Emily’s myriad of queries as she tried to peer around to see what he was checking out. He moved her a bit closer – after ascertaining Keith’s consent – so she could get a better view, and explained the elements he was checking, how to verify the quality of said element, and what problems could potentially be fatal for the vehicle. It had left Keith himself a bit stunned; every mechanic he’d ever gone to before had been very blunt and callous.

After a little bit more checking, Hunk leaned back up and grabbed a towel, wiping the grime from his hands. “Well, I think I can comfortably tell you what’s wrong with your car. If you want to take her back inside, I’ll follow you out in a minute so we can talk about it,” He said, reaching over and carefully plucking Emily off the seat after wiping off his hands.

“Thank you,” Keith said again before taking her hand and leading her out to the lobby. He perked up when he saw a familiar figure seated in one of the chairs, Emi’s little play date bag in his lap. “Matt, when did you get here?” He asked in surprise.

“Uncle Matt!” Emi squealed, darting over to the older man.

“Got here about five minutes ago. Shiro called me and told me what was going on. Since I wasn’t at work, I came and switched cars with him to get you two,” He laughed before turning his attention to the energetic child running towards him. He shifted to pick her up and embrace her gently. “Hey there, butter cup! I heard you two have had an eventful day!” He mused lightly.

“We got hit by another car! It was scary and I hit my head on my seat and it hurt!” She proclaimed, pointing at the spot in question.

“Oh, that’s just awful!” He gasped, feigning surprise before leaning over and pressing a small kiss to where she’d been hit. She giggled and he gave her another one before beaming up at Keith. “How are things looking with the car?”

He shrugged, opening his mouth to speak when Hunk walked behind the counter from the backroom. He had a clipboard and a small mug with lollipops in it in his hands. “Okay, I have the full breakdown right here,” He said, holding up the clipboard before shaking the cup, “and, if it’s okay with Daddy, a little treat for my little helper.” Keith blinked then chuckled, motioning Matt to bring Emily over. The other male looked a little confused but did as he was asked, carrying Emi over. She looked at Hunk with a curious tilt of her head while he offered the mug towards her. “You were a huge help while I was looking at your car, so I thought you deserved a little reward.”

Her eyes lit up. “Really?” She asked excitedly. He nodded and then she reached out, peering through the selection. She plucked on out and tilted her head at the swirly pink and green sucker. “What flavor is this?” She asked.

“Oh, that’s Strawberry-Kiwi! It’s really tasty!” He said.

She hummed quietly before peeling off the clear wrapper and plopping it in his mouth. Her eyes widened and she beamed at him. “This is really tasty!” She exclaimed, looking between all three men in turn, her words a bit slurred by the globe candy in her mouth.

All three laughed and Matt looked at Keith. “I’ll go get her in the car while you finish up,” He said, heading to the door. Emi poked her head around his shoulder, smiling with the stick dangling out of her mouth, and waved at them while Matt grabbed she and Keith’s bags.

Hunk laughed and waved back, while Keith waggled his fingers. “She’s an absolute doll,” Hunk mused once they’d left, offering the mug of suckers to Keith next.

“She’s a great kid,” He agreed, grabbing a lollipop made up of orange and yellow swirls. He hummed a bit at the citrusy taste on his tongue.

“Looks like you got the peach flavored one. Not as good as the strawberry cheesecake,” Hunk said, plucking a pink and white one from the mug for himself. He then set it aside and pulled up the clipboard. “Okay, so it looks like there, thankfully, wasn’t any serious damage done to the engine block itself or any of your belts, which is good. Those tend to be the bigger repairs that can wipe out the bank account. It looks like there’s a crack in the head gasket, though, which is causing it to leak. Other than that, there’s just straightening the hood back out and welding the bumper back on. I might have the parts on hand, too, so you won’t need to wait on that, so you might only need to wait until tomorrow morning for me to have her up and purring again.” As he explained, he turned the clipboard towards Keith and showed him where everything had been typed up, as well as the pricing breakdown.

It wasn’t as bad as Keith had been dreading, but it certainly wasn’t pretty.

Hunk seemed to sense Keith’s apprehension, as he flipped the page to a final sheet. “We offer payment plans, if that would be easier. I mean, you have other priorities too, that the car kinda has a hand in facilitating,” He explained. He looked it over then glanced back up at Hunk.

“Are… Are you serious?” He asked uneasily.

Hunk seemed a bit bemused himself. “Uh, yeah. I mean, I know that payment plans are a rarity with stuff like this, but I get it. You weren’t at fault in the accident, but it might take time for the other person’s car insurance to reimburse you for the repairs. At least this way, you’ll still have the vehicle for use, I’ll be receiving partial payment for my work, and then we can settle up completely once you get the insurance payout.”

“That’s… Actually a really brilliant and convenient way to handle it,” He said with a small smile.

Hunk flashed a bashful smile. “I just try to do what I think is best for my customers and my business. I just need a signature here, your contact information, and then we’ll need to collect the first payment when you pick the car up,” He explained, turning pages and offering Keith a pen. Once it was all settled he smiled and shook his hand, Hunk’s much larger hand almost seeming to engulf Keith’s. “Glad we can be of help! I’ll go print off a copy of this for you, and I’ll make another extra just in case you need me to send it into your insurance company once you file the claim.” He said before disappearing into the small office on the other side of the desk.

Keith watched him go and released a slow sigh. There was something about the warm young mechanic that made him feel like everything was going to turn out okay.

................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Keith had met Allura when he first moved to the city with Emily over three years ago, through a single parent's group on Facebook, and they'd become fast friends. Emi was about six months old at the time and Allura's son, Alfor, was only a few weeks older than Emi, so the two thought it'd be good to get the two little kids together. Much like their parents, Emi and Alfor became fast friends, with constant babbling of baby-gibberish between them. Ever since, Keith and Allura tried to get together once every week or two so the kids could play together and they could catch up.

Keith was grateful to have found people that were great friends for both he and Amber. Sometimes it was hard finding other parents to talk with that didn't look down their nose at his situation.

On the drive to Allura’s house, he took the time to make all the necessary arrangements regarding the accident. He sent an email to Professor Rygnirath explaining his situation and requesting if he could at least receive the homework assignment that would be due next class; resigning himself, begrudgingly, to losing out on the points from the homework that had been due that day as well as the class work he’d missed. He was grateful at how patient the woman with his insurance had been as he explained, as well as how she’d giggled lightly when she could hear Emi eagerly belting out the lyrics to _Everybody Wants to be a Cat_ from the back seat of the car. He had ground his teeth and forced himself to sound pleasant throughout his conversation with Mrs. Wickerton about the situation, opting to correct her politely on how Keith had right of way, as opposed to it being a matter of him not paying attention. It took him promising to let Emi call her after dinner so she could be reassured that the little girl was okay to get her off the line.

His conversation with his own mother had been, thankfully, brief due to her heading to a work meeting. After assuring her three times that they were both fine, she confirmed that they’d still be meeting up at his apartment for dinner when she was off. She promised to let him know when she was on her way over so that he could call in a pizza for the three of them. After the call with his mother, his phone alerted him to a new message from Professor Rygnirath. Thankfully, the older man responded that he understood these things happened, asking if he and Emi were both okay, and then letting Keith know that he wouldn’t penalize Keith for something out of his control. Attached to the email were the documents for the class work that day and homework that would be due next class, and he said that he’d still give Keith full credit on the homework due that day so long as he emailed him the original completed file within 24 hours.

With all the business side of things taken care of, Keith felt like he could finally relax some and join in during an enthusiastic rendition of “I Just Can’t Wait to be King”.

Matt dropped them off in the driveway and Allura was hovering in the doorway of her home, arms crossed in concern until her bright blue eyes landed on them. Her arms unfurled as she rushed over, embracing them both tightly and letting out a quiet 'oh' of concern. He flushed a bit but smiled and returned the embrace with the arm not keeping Emi balanced on his hip. "I’m so relieved you’re both okay!" She mumbled lightly. Shortly before Alfor was born, Allura lost her father, whom her son was named after, to a sudden heart attack. She constantly fretted over the well-being of those she held dear, to an extent that Keith was certain became a bit more extreme after her father's abrupt passing.

Emi pushed herself up a bit and gave one of the older woman's cheeks a little pat. "It's okay, Auntie Lura! It was scary but we are a-okay!" She said happily, beaming and flashing her a little okay sign with her fingers.

Allura giggled and gave her forehead a quick peck as she stepped away. "I'm very glad for that. Are you feeling well enough to play still? Or did you need to stay calm and quiet after everything?" She fretted, releasing the pair with a small squeeze to his shoulder as she retracted herself and led them the rest of the way up and in.

“She has a bruise on her head, and I have some chaffing from the seat belt, but other than that we’re both fine. She can run around just like she usually does,” Keith said, setting Emi down once they were inside. Allura, despite coming from a well-off family as her father had run a highly successful company that developed new medical technology, lived in a rather modest two-story home with a lovely and spacious backyard. There were lots of exotic pieces of art and décor, which he supposed was to be expected, but it didn’t feel out of place or overdone in her home. It helped him feel more at ease when he came to see her, given his own current living arrangements weren’t anywhere near as nice.

Allura nodded as they headed into the kitchen. “Can I get either of you something to drink? Lance made some fresh lemonade, or I can brew a pot of coffee,” She offered.

Emi’s eyes lit up and she looked at Keith expectantly. He chuckled and set her play bag down on the kitchen table, rummaging through to find her favorite little thermos. Thankfully enough, the pastel blue of the lid wasn’t hard to find among the dark hues of her play costumes. It was a simple little thing, mostly blue, but depicted a little scene of a train with different colored rabbits riding in each of the train carts. He then handed it to her, preparing to remind her to use her manners, but paused at her quick, “Thank you, Daddy!” She then scampered after Allura. “May I have some lemonade please, Auntie Lura?” She piped.

Allura giggled and nodded, leaning down to gently take the thermos from her. “And for you, Keith?” She asked, looking at him as she screwed the top off.

“A glass of lemonade would actually be great, thanks,” He said, watching as Emily took the offered thermos once it was full and thanked Allura again. She then darted back over to him and clamored into the chair next to him, clicking the little button on the front of her thermos so the straw would pop out.

Keith smiled and settled into one of the seats at the table. The sliding glass door to the backyard slid open, allowing Lance to head inside with little Alfor hot on his heels. “Oh, hey, Keith,” Lance said with a grin, waving at him.

Keith perked up and offered a wave of his own. “Hey. How are things?” He asked.

The other shrugged before reaching down and scooping Alfor up, hoisting him into the air and carefully twisting him so that he was upside down. This earned an excited squeal from the silver haired tot. “Oh, you know, the usual with Alfie around,” He laughed, leaning over to blow raspberries on the little boy’s exposed stomach.

“Daddy! Stop!” The little boy squealed, pressing one hand against the other’s forehead to try and push away, still giggling like mad. He didn’t make any other attempt to get away, though, which hinted that he wasn’t as opposed to how he was being treated as he let on.

“Oh, Lance! Be careful holding him like that!” Allura fretted, holding up one hand and lightly waving it at them.

Lance chuckled but shifted to set Alfor back down anyway, ignoring the loud whine of protest he released. “Would you be so kind as to pour us each a glass too? Worked up a pretty good sweat out there,” He said.

Allura chuckled as she plucked two more cups from the cabinet then moved a small tray covered in aluminum foil from the stovetop and offered it to Lance. “Apparently not enough of one with how you are still trying to practice gym routines in my kitchen,” She commented.

Lance chuckled as he took the plate, then perked up. “Oh, that reminds me, did you get my text about the meet?” He asked, heading over to set the plate on the kitchen table. He tugged up the foil to reveal a plate of rice crispy squares.

“The one about the time being changed?” Allura asked as she poured the drinks.

“No, the one after that. Apparently Glenda misunderstood, so that was only for the higher ranks, so Alfie’s still going to be performing on the 22nd at 11am,” He explained, swiping two napkins from the little holder beside the plate and offering a treat to both Emi and Keith. Lance then shifted to pick Alfie up and settle him in the other chair beside Emi, offering him a treat as well. The two children immediately started chatting animatedly about this or that.

Keith glanced briefly at them before turning back to watch Lance and Allura continue to iron out the details of the gymnastics meet. He would never say it out loud, but a small part of him was jealous of Allura for having Lance in her life. Not because he was attracted to Lance, though; while he had grown used to Lance, the other was still a touch too abrasive and pompous for Keith’s liking. However, since day one, Lance had been on board with helping Allura in any way that he could, in proving that he meant it when he said he wanted to be with her.

Keith wasn’t exactly sure what the deal was with Allura’s ex, Alfor’s biological father, simply because he didn’t like to pry and she had only ever said, “He wasn’t interested in being a parent and I wasn’t interested in giving Alfor up, so we decided to simply end things there.” He knew that, before meeting Lance, she’d gone on a handful of dates with others that had seemed okay with the fact she was a single mother until they learned that she was a single mother in every sense of the word. There were no weekend visits with the paternal side of his family or anything like that, so typically they didn’t make it past a second date. Keith himself had been able to empathize with her pain and frustration, as he’d been through similar instances with the people he’d tried dating since moving to the city for a fresh start.

Going on the date with Lance had been something she agreed to without any expectation of it going anywhere. Their first date had been nice, though, and he’d been polite and sweet and respectful the whole night through; no questions about her situation, no pushing for answers about how often her baby daddy was around, no nothing. He had simply asked about her interests, her work, and other things of that ilk. She had been even further surprised when Lance had asked her about going on a second date. Being clever and a bit dubious of his sincerity, she said that she’d have to bring Alfor along, curious to test how serious he was about being in a long-term commitment with her and what that really meant. He had shocked them both by agreeing that it’d be absolutely fine and even suggested they go to a special evening exhibit at the zoo, as it was the middle of summer and with the sun going down the temperature would be a little bit more bearable for a near-nine month old like Alfor.

Lance and Alfor had hit it off pretty well, too. Lance doted and looked after the little guy as if he were his own. Allura and Lance became official after a handful of other dates where they went out the three of them. Never once did Lance whine or complain about having to rearrange things to accommodate for Alfor’s inclusion, nor did he ever try to treat Allura as if being a mother defined who she was solely, and Allura fell pretty fast. She didn’t admit it until after they’d been an official couple for about seven months, when Lance had missed one of his classes to go pick Alfor up from his preschool due to Allura and Coran, an uncle and trusted advisor to Allura as she adjusted to her role as company president, being in an important meeting regarding the state of Altea Enterprises. She had sent Keith a text telling him that she was officially in love with the man that pretended he was a scary monster for her superhero son to best in battle.

That, ultimately, was what Keith was jealous of; that she had a partner she loved who loved her and loved her son and were a happy family together.

Emily was far from a difficult child. She had her moments where she acted up, sure, but for the most part Keith was pretty sure he’d been lucky to have a very sweet and respectful child. And he loved her with his whole heart, would do anything he could to protect her, but sometimes he felt a little lonely. Not just in the sense that it’d be nice to have a partner he could go on dates or cuddle with, but also in the sense that he sometimes wished he didn’t have to bear it all on his own. It’d be nice to have a partner that he could call in situations like what he’d encountered with the accident, to talk to about coordinating to get things handle.

It wasn’t a matter of lacking support, either, because he had plenty of people willing to help he and Emily out when needed. His mother was letting the two of them move back in with her, after all, so he could focus more on his studies and stress less about finances. Shiro and Matt had always been supportive and helped out in whatever ways they could. He also knew that he could reach out to Allura or Lance for help if he needed it. And, in their own willfully-ignorant-of-Keith’s-rules, the Wickerton’s wanted to help out with Emily, too, so he could go to them if he was ever that desperate.

But he sometimes felt like he was a burden to his friends and family for having to ask for help. He was Emily’s father, after all; he should be able to take care of her without constantly having to ask for help. But when he actually thought about it, the idea of having a dependable partner who would be there for both he and Emily was an appealing one. And in more recent weeks, as he watched Allura and Lance coordinate getting Alfor to his gymnastic classes and piano lessons, and as he listened to Shiro and Matt debate the merits of potential surrogates they were looking into, he couldn’t help but yearn for something like that too.

It then became a catch 22, though, because he also feared putting too much on a partner and feeling like he’d be burdening them too. And then there was also the concern about how Emily would feel about it. Allura was lucky that she and Lance had started dating so early on, so there was no need to worry about Alfor rebelling against having a second parent. Lance was the only dad Alfor had ever known, and the family dynamic they’d established was the only routine he could remember. Having both Allura and Lance around to take care of him was all he’d known. Meanwhile, Emily would be turning four in just a few months, and Keith was the only parent she could recall. What if she felt uncomfortable about having a new parent to answer to? What if she felt like she was being ignored and neglected by Keith entering into a romantic relationship and started to rebel?

Those thoughts left Keith in a frustrating spot, to say the least.

He jumped a bit when he was brought out of his head and back in the moment by Lance snapping his fingers right in his face. “Yo, dude, you okay there?” He asked, offering him a glass of lemonade with his other hand.

“Y-Yeah, sorry. Just lost in thought for a second there,” Keith said quickly, reaching up and taking the offered drink.

“Hmm. I can’t blame you for that. I mean, you already the stress of moving to worry about. Having your car get totally messed up certainly doesn’t make things any easier for you,” Lance commented before heading back over to grab his own drink. He then turned and looked at him worriedly. “Oh, and did you already talk to Mrs. Wickerton?”

“Yes, I did. You know, you sound like Shiro right now,” Keith grumbled, taking a small bite of his treat. He noticed Emily staring at him, blue eyes wide with an emotion he couldn’t quite place, as he shifted to take a small sip of his drink. “Something wrong, baby girl?” He asked gently.

She jumped a bit in surprise herself and shook her head, stuffing her rice crispy treat into her mouth. Before he could, the back door slid open and in walked Coran. He blinked then smiled brightly when he saw them both. “Ah, the Koganes! So glad to see the pair of you are safe and sound!” He beamed happily.

“Thankks, Coran,” Keith said with a small smile.

The older man nodded before glancing over at the two youngsters settled at the table. “Hmm. Do you two think you’d be up to jumping on the trampoline?”

Emi and Alfor gasped in unison at the question. “Can we?” Emi asked, wheeling around to look at Keith. The complete 180 in mood wasn’t something Keith was surprised by; he learned that the mood of kids could be very easily flipped, with the right incentive.

“Sure thing. Just make sure you take your socks off too, so you don’t slip around, okay?” He mused lightly.

“Mkay, Daddy!” She said happily, scrambling off the chair and darting to the back door with Alfor. Coran held the door for them and then followed them out with a small wink at Keith, implying he’d sensed something was up.

He was always grateful for the other man’s perception and eagerness to help however he could.

Lance and Allura headed over, slipping into the seats the kids had vacated just a moment before. “Sorry, dude. Didn’t mean to bring the mood down with that question,” Lance said.

Keith took a sip of his lemonade and waved one hand. “No, it’s not your fault. I just get so frustrated dealing with them sometimes, you know? And it’s even harder since I try to avoid saying anything bad about them around Emi,” He said with a small sigh.

Allura hummed quietly, not really knowing what Keith meant but able to see where his struggles would lie. “Well, if you need any help with anything at all, let us know. Even if it’s just a sympathetic ear, we’re your friends and we’re here to help you however we can,” She said gently.

“Thanks you two. I really appreciate it,” Keith said, feeling like those words had tumbled out of his mouth more times in that day alone than he’d ever said them the rest of his life.

“Speaking of which,” Lance hummed after another sip from his own glass, “are you still moving this weekend?”

“Oh, yeah. Things are probably going to be slow going, depending on how long I don’t have the car, but I might have the money in savings to rent a truck for the bigger pieces of furniture, though,” He said, pausing to mumble quietly to himself at the last bit.

Lance smirked and leaned back in his chair, waving one hand. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I have a buddy with a truck and I asked him to help us out,”

“What? Are you sure?” Keith asked in surprise.

“Yeah, no sweat. He’s a totally chill guy who loves to help out. Oh, and he’s pretty big, too, so he can help with a lot of the heavy lifting, too. He doesn’t work on Saturdays and Sundays either, so he’ll have plenty of time,” He mused.

“I’d hate to have to bother a stranger, though. I mean, I’m sure he has other things he’d rather do than help a complete stranger move,” He argued.

“Seriously, Keith, relax. I didn’t just randomly sign him up or something’ I actually asked him if I could just borrow the truck for the day and then he volunteered to help out,”

Allura perked up and slowly raised an eyebrow at him. “Wait, are you sure he offered because he _wanted_ to help? Or was it _concern_ of what damage _you could wreak_ upon the truck?”

There was silence for a moment before Lance slowly turned to stare at her. “Allura, my darling, my Goddess, love of my life… Why would you roast me like this in front of our friend?” He asked, indicating Keith with a calm wave of one hand.

Keith hid his chuckles behind chewing as he shoved the last bite of his rice crispy treat into his mouth, watching the playful bickering between the couple and swallowing the yearning he felt back down.

................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Keith carefully shifted the bags on his shoulders as he rummaged for his apartment key, Emi standing beside him with a huge grin on her lips. She was covered from her hips down to her shows in streaks of soil from she and Alfie’s game of soccer. She’d slid to get the ball before it could roll into the flower bed but that resulted in her getting her legs caught on the wet soil on the outskirts of the small garden. Thankfully enough, Keith had been planning to head out around the time she came marching over to the back door caked in the damp dirt. “Gonna need to get you in the bath, little girl,” He tutted lightly as he pushed the door open.

“But I wanna see Nana Olia,” She said as she walked in, stopping at the little linoleum cube right in front of the door.

“You’ll still get to see her because she’s having dinner with us. But let’s see if we can’t get you cleaned up before she gets here,” He said, setting their bags down on the carpet before pausing to take off both their shoes. He then picked her up and carried her to the bathroom. He had been planning to give her a bath that night anyway, so he wasn’t particularly upset about it. He made sure to be careful with scrubbing her hair as he cleaned her up, not wanting to irritate the tender spot on the side of her head from the accident, and was a bit displeased when he saw the yellow-green marks on her chest and shoulder from her car seat.

He was glad that it had done its job in keeping her safe, but a small part of him was still upset at seeing such harsh marks on his little girl.

After getting her all clean and changed into some pajamas, they settled on the futon in the front room. Their apartment was a cozy little one bedroom, with the one proper bedroom belonging to Emily and Keith turning the living room into a makeshift bedroom for himself. He wanted Emily to have her own space where she could stretch out and play and such. Plus, he hadn’t been too terribly concerned with needing his own space. He had just finished tying her hair off in a braid when the front door was pushed open and his mother stepped in, two pizza boxes balanced on one hand.

“Nana Olia!” Emi said excitedly, pushing herself up from the couch and darting over. Keith chuckled and shook his head a bit, pushing himself upright as well. She reached up towards the older woman eagerly.

She was answered by a small laugh. “Emi, baby, give me one second to set the pizzas down,” She said.

“Got it,” Keith said before calmly swiping the boxes from his mother’s grasp and heading over towards the small kitchen table. As he set them down, Krolia scooped the small child up and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“I heard you had an exciting day,” She said as she walked over to the table.

Emi nodded. “We got hit by another car and I bumped my head! This big jerk-face sped through the light and we were spinning and it was scary!”

“Oh, goodness! Your Daddy didn’t tell me that you actually went _spinning_ ,” She said, keeping her tone gentle in her surprise. She did, however, shift to cast a suspicious glance at Keith as he grabbed them some paper plates. He’s picked up a small pack since he’d already packed away the actual dishes for the move.

He flashed her a nervous smile at her scrutiny. “Well, I didn’t want you worrying too much. I mean, aside from some bruises, we’re both totally fine. And according to the mechanic, the car wasn’t that badly banged up either, so there’s that. Anyway, I haven’t packed up the PlayStation yet. Why don’t you and Emi pick a movie on Netflix or Hulu while I fix plates and drinks?” He offered, trying to drop the subject. Thinking about it all was just too stressful and he really just wanted to unwind and relax for a bit.

Krolia raised one brow before nodding, but the look in her eye told him that she’d be approaching the subject with him again. She made her way over to the futon and settled in with Emi, the young girl grabbing the bright red controller and handing it over. Keith grabbed three of the little plastic cups he’d picked up when he got the plates and poured the remainder a two-liter of cola into two of them, and polished off the apple juice in the third one. He hadn’t seen a point in picking up groceries earlier in the week when they’d started to run low and, instead, had just pick up a few little things to last them until Friday.

He brought the plates and drinks out in pairs and sat down as Emi decided on Hotel Transylvania. It was a surprisingly cute little film with great animation in it, which the three of them enjoyed. Once the movie was over, Krolia was kind enough to spare her son the horrors of sitting through another phone call with Mrs. Wickerton and took control herself, sitting with Emily as she chatted with the older woman. While they were on the phone, Keith went ahead and emailed Professor Rygnirath his homework assignment and downloaded the new ones.

He had just finished the reading for the class work assignment when Krolia quietly slipped out of Emily’s room, being careful to crack the door just enough so the hall light could trickle in for her. She released a slow breath as she headed over, offering his phone back to him. “I went ahead and put her to bed. She was starting to doze off on the phone, poor thing was so tired from all the excitement of her day. Thankfully enough Lydia seemed fine, since she’ll have Emi all weekend,” She said gently.

“Oh, you should have come and got me. I could have put her down,” He said worriedly. She shrugged and headed back toward the front area, gathering the plates and cups. She tossed the plates and two of the cups in the trash, then went and rinsed her own cup out in the sink. “There’s a water jug in the sink.” He offered, turning a bit in his seat to face her.

She poured herself a cup then headed back over, settling in the seat beside him and gently setting her hand on top of his. “I wish you had told me the full details about the accident earlier,” She said.

“I didn’t want to worry you over nothing. Like I said, we got some bruises and that’s it,”

“But it could have been much worse. We’re both fine and we’ll hopefully get the car back soon. I honestly just want to focus more on getting through the move this weekend,” He said with a tired sigh, reaching over to carefully close his laptop.

She stared at him for a moment before nodding, giving his hand another small squeeze. “Okay. You get paid tomorrow, right? Did you need me to take you to pick up the paint for Emily’s room?” She asked, keeping her voice quiet just in case.

“Hopefully not, it just depends on what goes on with the car. Coran offered to take me to drop Emi off but I didn’t really want to burden him with having to run me around to get the paint and then drop me off at the house. The guy at the shop said that he thinks he can get the car back up and running tomorrow but I guess we’ll see,” He said.

“Well, if you don’t have the car, just have Coran drop you off at the house and I’ll get the paint when I get off. Did you have colors picked out?” She asked curiously.

Keith’s eyes lit up and he nodded, opening his school bag and pulling out a small folder. Ever since he’d decided to take up his mother’s offer to move in with her, he’d been thinking about things he wanted to do. Since she had approved it, Keith decided he wanted to paint Emily’s room. The complex he currently lived in had a rule about only painting using one of three colors they had approved for painting walls, and none of them had been good picks for Emi.

He pulled out two little color cards and slid them over to her, indicating the two with their names circled in the black ink from his ballpoint. “I was thinking these two; this one for the walls and then this one for the trim,” He explained, indicating each as he spoke.

The one he indicated for the walls was a purple hue called “Free Spirit” while the second one was a light pink called “Comical Coral”. She smiled and hummed. “I think these will look good together,”

“I was thinking about maybe using the pink color for not just the trim but also to put little polka-dots on the walls. She’s been really big into those and stripes lately, so I thought it’d be a nice was to help personalize it for her,” He explained.

“And what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Wouldn’t you like to paint your room as well? Personalize it a little since you’ll have your own space again?”

Keith blinked then hummed thoughtfully. “I… Honestly hadn’t thought about it. Maybe if I have the time tomorrow after I drop her off I’ll go pick some colors for myself. Might be nice,”

They fell into casual chatter for about an hour after that, coordinating plans and discussing this or that. Keith still needed to buy a proper bed for himself, but thankfully he’d been taking any overtime on the weekends that Emi went with the Wickertons’ so that he’d have a little extra money for the additional expenses that would come with moving. It may have only been from one side of town to the other, but he knew it’d still require a bit of scratch to do it.

Once she left with the promise to text him to figure out exactly how things, as well as a promise that she’d be by in the morning to take Emily to her pre-school class. Emi was on a scholarship for her program and if she missed too many days she’d be dropped. Keith had tried to insist that he could get her there himself but Krolia hadn’t been in a mood to play nice. She admitted that he’d need to figure out a ride for picking her up – assuming he didn’t have his car – but she could at least take her and get some use out of the car seat she’d bought. Keith had accepted that he would win that battle and walked her to the elevator, promising to have Emi ready to go by the time she got there in the morning.

When he returned to the apartment, he locked everything up, shifted his futon from the couch position to bed, grabbed his pajamas and hopped in the shower. Keith had been lucky to get hooked up with an at-home call center job through Matt’s younger sister, Katie, but he was still expected to be logged into the software right on time and their peripheral activities tracked heavily, with the higher ups monitoring them down to the very second, but he could write down his three-page opinion on the reading he’d done between calls in a notebook and then just type it up later. He often juggled his responsibilities through such means, but it worked out well. Sometimes writing it down physically helped him with the editing process of his assignments, as rereading it caused him to think of better ways to word this or that.

He toweled off his hair as he made his way down the hallway but paused, noticing Emi’s bedroom door pushed wider open. A quick glance to the end of the hallway showed a bright orange blanket bundle huddled up against one of his pillows, the fluffy brown head of a familiar plush toy sticking out. He chuckled a bit and dumped his towel in the hamper by the entrance of the hallway. “Hmm. I wonder what Chestnut could be doing in my bed,” He said playfully.

The blankets shifted a bit tighter in, the little head of the stuffed horse disappearing within, and Keith frowned a bit. Normally Emi would respond by pretending to be Chestnut and talk with him.

He grabbed his own blanket from where he folded it and left it on the floor beside the futon frame and spread it out, covering Emi as well. He then slipped under the covers himself and gently tugged at where she’d sealed herself off in the blankets. “Yes, hello, little blanket pod? My name is Daddy, and I’m looking for my Emi. You wouldn’t have happened to have seen her, would you?”

There was an answer of some sort, but it was too muffled for him to understand.

“No, you haven’t? Well, maybe you’ve seen her favorite horsy pal, Chestnut? If you’ve seen him she can’t have gone far,” He said, feigning thoughtful concern. Suddenly, a little head poked out from the blankets and he was greeted by his daughter’s pouty little face. “Oh, hello there, Emi. I was just looking for you.”

“S’not funny, Daddy,” She mumbled, ducking her head back down so that the lower half of her face.

Ah, so she had come out of her room because of something serious. He immediately dropped the act and pulled her a bit closer, relieved when she shifted to nuzzle into him. At least she wasn’t upset with him. “I’m sorry I was being silly, baby girl. Did you have a scary dream?” He asked gently.

She shook her head. “Daddy… Am I a scaredy cat?”

“Not at all. Why would you think that?”

“A’cause I told Alfie that I was scared and cried when Myra got hit. He said that he wouldn’t have been scared and he wouldn’t have cried. He said I was a scaredy cat,” She mumbled, sniffling a bit and pressing her face into him.

Keith reached down and gently cupped her face, tilting her head to look at him. “Hey, I’m gonna tell you a few little secrets, okay?” He asked. When she nodded, he cleared his throat. “First thing’s first, Alfie is a big ole’ liar pants.”

Emi released a gasp at that, which he couldn’t really blame her for. He did just call her best friend the toddler equivalent of a fuck face.

“What happened today was a really scary thing and, if it happened to him, he’d have been just as scared as you were. Wanna know how I know? Because,” He paused, drawing the word out as she nodded again, “I was really scared when it happened.”

“Really?”

“Really. I was so scared that something bad had happened to you and that you got really hurt. There’s nothing wrong or bad about crying when something happens, either. Sometimes scary or sad or bad things happen and crying when it happens is absolutely okay. It’s how we can let some of the fear and sadness out,” He explained.

She smiled up at him and nodded, tucking herself up so her head was resting under his chin and one of her little hands was clutching at his sleep shirt. “I love you, Daddy,” She mumbled softly.

“I love you too, baby doll. With all my heart,” He mumbled softly, gently rubbing one hand up her back to try and help soothe her. He let his eyes droop shut as he listened to her breathing level out, letting all his concerns and anxieties from the day melt away just long enough so he could escape to the sanctity of his dreams.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The weekend slides by with some interesting developments in Keith's life between the status of his car, passive-aggressive extended family, and the beginnings of a new beginning with the big move.

Mornings were always a bit of a struggle to get through, but without his own car? Multiplied by about 10.

The first problem was that Emily hated having to wake up. Once she was up and dressed, she was her usual sweet self, but up until that point she was a tiny terror. Keith switched off his alarm, blinking the last bits of drowsiness from his eyes, before moving to sit up. He ended up taking his daughter, clutching on to him like her life depended on it, with him, her face pressed into his chest to keep the sunlight starting to trickle in from getting in her eyes. He chuckled a bit, gently patting her back. "Baby doll, it's time to get you ready. Nana Olia will be here soon," He cooed softly.

"Don't wanna," She whined into his night shirt.

"I know it's not fun, but you'll get to go to your day class and see your school friends. You like playing with your school friends," He pointed out.

"No,"

"You mean you don't like playing with Maxine and Addie and Jonah?" He asked with a faux-scandalized gasp.

“Nuh uh,” She grumbled back again.

Keith scowled a little bit and reached to pull the blankets off but she shifted further away and let out a wordless shout of protest. Oh, she was in one of those moods. “Emily Jeanette Kogane, come out of there and get ready for school,” He said, keeping his voice calm but with that No-Nonsense Daddy tone he sometimes had to use. He didn’t want the morning to start out with him having to physically extract her from her blanketed cocoon and force her through their routine, but he would if he had to.

"I _don’t wanna_! I _wanna stay with you_ ," She wailed, lifting her head to look at him with her biggest, most pleading set of puppy dog eyes plastered on.

Keith took a deep breath and let out a small sigh, some of his anger dissipating. "Emi, sweetheart, I wish you could stay with me all day, all the time," He said softly, "but you have to go to day school. And Daddy has to do his work so we have food to eat and to get Myra fixed and everything. But maybe we can go do something fun next weekend."

She puffed her cheeks out, clearly displeased, then flopped over on to the futon again. She rolled herself over in the comforter until she was nothing but a pillowy burrito with a set of blue eyes poking out the top. Then, to further show her displeasure, she flopped over so that her back was facing him. "I wanna do fun stuff with Daddy _now_ ," She harrumped.

Keith checked the time on his phone then groaned quietly. He only had about twenty minutes to get her dressed and down stairs before there was the chance she'd be late to daycare. "Sweetie, please, we _really_ need to get going. How about this? If you come out of there and let me get you ready, I take you to a movie next weekend. Does that sound like a deal?" He pleaded. Going to the theater wasn't something Keith could normally swing to do, but sometimes he could budget for it. Since he'd be rent-free living with his Mom again, he figured he could manage to take her out if it got her out of bed.

She shifted as if she was going to turn further away from him, but after a moment she poked her head back out of the blankets to look at him. She sniffled a bit but slowly nodded, lower lip jutted out just so. "Can I wear my bowsies to school today, too?" She asked, shifting her gaze from him to her toes shuffling under the blanket.

He chuckled and nodded. "Sure thing. Now let's go get your little teethies brushed," He mused.

Brushing her teeth was easy enough, but picking an outfit for her ended up being the bigger struggle. She kept changing her mind on what color she wanted to wear that day, and didn't finally settle on her overall jean dress with her favorite pink striped leggings until he got the text from Krolia saying she was on her way. He then settled her on the couch so he could comb through her hair, style it in pigtails and tie on the little ribbons and clips. Braiding Emily's hair before bed was a must, because she loved having it long but the length made it a nightmare to comb out. The braid helped keep it from getting too terribly knotted up when she slept.

He parted her hair, tied it off with the plain hair ties, and then set to looping the little orange ribbons into bows on the top. Once the bows were set, he attached the little heart-shaped clips to the knot of the bows. They had been part of a little hair-styling kit that had been gifted to them by Lance for Christmas a little over a year ago. Back then, Keith had only known how to do basic things like pigtails and single ponytails. "If you're gonna have a little girl with long hair, you need to know how to help her work it," Lance had said, his tone teasingly chiding.

The items in the kit were very nice and clearly of high quality, so he didn't typically let her wear them unless it was a special occasion. He figured that, aside from the simple matter of bribery, it technically was a special occasion. This was their last morning in the apartment that had been their home for over three years.

He had just finished getting her hair styled and settled when his phone started chiming, alerting him to another text from his Mom. "Out front," It reads.

"Okay, sweetheart, Nana's downstairs waiting for you. Can you get your coat and school bag?" He asked, gently picking her up and setting her on the carpet. He was still dressed in his pajamas, but he figured that would be fine. He'd get dressed once he came back up and made something quick for breakfast. He grabbed his sandals while Emi darted over to pull her school bag from her play date bag. He slipped on his sandals and headed over to where she was dancing by the door, hands clutching the straps of her backpack in both hands, her jacket pulled on but not latched up.

He knelt down to zipper her coat up for her. It was early spring and, while things would warm up as the day carried on, he didn’t want her getting bit by the slight chill present in the early morning air. He opened the door and she eagerly took his offered hand, knowing better than to wander off, and skipped along beside him. “Feeling better now?” He asked with a small chuckle.

She nodded up at him. “Nana Olia’s never taken me to day school before! I want her to meet Miss Trisha!” She said excitedly.

He blinked then smiled gently as they walked into the elevator. “I’m sure if you ask nicely, she’d be more than happy to go meet Miss Trisha,” He agreed.

She grinned and rocked on her heels throughout the elevator ride, swaying her backpack from side to side, continuing to do so even after two more tenants joined them. She even went so far as to greet the two happily, earning a small wave from the woman on the phone and a brief conversation with the old man. “My, you look like you’re heading somewhere important!”

“I’m going to my day class!”

“Oh, that really is important! Are you learning a lot of cool things?”

“Yup! I can already count all the way up to twenty, and I can count backwards from ten, too!” She announced proudly as the elevator dinged on the ground floor.

The old man chuckled. “Ah, you’re a mighty smart little girl! You have a lovely day at school,” He mused, waving at her and dipping his head politely at Keith before shuffling along towards the little mail room beside the elevator.

“Bye-bye, Mister!” Emi called happily, waving back before taking Keith’s hand again. She beamed up at him as they walked along, also taking the time to wave at two of the maintenance workers as they walked past. They both smiled and waved back. “I liked living here.”

“Yeah?” Keith asked gently, feeling a small bit of guilt at the words. It made sense that she might be a little sad leaving, and sometimes he worried if the move would be too drastic for her. This was the only home she’d ever known, and, even if it was just a small apartment, it had still been home. A part of him would miss the comfy feel of it, too.

She hummed in agreement as they stepped out of the building and towards the parking spaces right up front, where Krolia’s car was parked. “But I think it’ll be fun living with Nana Olia, too! We can have dinner with her and do other fun stuff together, right?” She asked. He helped her shrug out of her backpack, tossing it over one of his shoulders as he reached for the door handle.

He chuckled and nodded. “That’s right,” He agreed, opening the back door and helping her climb in. Her car seat was stationed on the center seat, where she’d have plenty of room to look around. “Morning, Mom.” He said with a smile.

She smiled back and turned in her seat, her belt unlatched so she could reach back and ruffle his hair then reached out towards Emi. “Morning, lovelies,” She mused lightly, pinching one cheek gently, earning a little giggle from her. “You look very cute today, Emily. I like your little bows.”

“Thank you, Nana Olia! I like your busy-ness suit!” She beamed happily.

Krolia blinked then giggled a bit herself. “This suit looks just like all the other ones I wear,” She said.

“And I like all of them!” The little girl declared happily, throwing her arms up in the air to add emphasis to her words. She then settled back down at a gentle nudge from Keith, settling more comfortably in the seat as he buckled her in and then readjusted the straps. “Nana, do you wanna come meet my teacher? Her name is Miss Trisha and she’s really nice!”

Krolia blinked then smiled and nodded. “It’d be my pleasure,” She said. She then looked over at Keith as he finished making sure all the straps and clasps were properly hooked. “Has she had breakfast yet?”

“The teachers actually give them a little breakfast there,” He said evenly.

She nodded. “Mkay. Well, I’ll text you when I go on my lunch break so we can finish coordinating for all of the surprises we have in store,” She mused, winking at him when Emi looked between them curiously.

“What surprises?” She piped.

“Well, we can’t tell you, baby doll; otherwise, it wouldn’t be a surprise,” He teased, giving her nose a little tap. She puffed her cheeks but he chuckled and leaned over to give her a quick peck to the forehead. “I promise you’ll love it. For now, though, you need to get to school. You have fun and I’ll see you when your day’s done, okay?”

She wrinkled her nose, tilting her head from side to side in thought, before nodding. “Okay! I love you!” She said, reaching up to grab his cheeks pull him so that could give him a quick smooch.

“I love you too, Emily,” He chuckled, giving her two more quick pecks to her nose and forehead before slipping out of the car. He waved as he watched them back out and head towards the nearest exit, a strange churning sensation in his stomach. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust him Mom with Emily – because nothing could be further from the truth – but it felt so foreign to be breaking from the established routine he’d walked every morning. A small part of him was sad to know that he wouldn’t be able to spend the last day of their routine doing things the way they always had.

Keith had never been fond of rules or regulations in his youth, but he learned quickly that children needed structure and took comfort in familiarity. Long ago, back in those brief four months where Emily had a second parent around, they’d done research. They were just a pair of barely eighteen year old kids with no idea what, exactly, raising another tiny person would entail, but agreed they were up to the task. And so, they decided to look into what the experts said. While they hadn’t really followed everything, as some suggestions just seemed asinine to both of them, they’d agreed to do their best to have a schedule so that Emily would always know what to expect, barring an emergency situation.

And then an emergency happened, leaving Keith as the only parent Emi had left. So he relocated to where he hoped to have a better chance at keeping a sense of order. And, for the most part? It was the best decision he could have made. He had a decent support system and then, upon befriending Allura, he was able to make other connections that helped both he and Emily. Then his schedule had been adjusted by the Wickertons’ finding out he was living in the city again and demanding they get some time with Emily. So, he had adjusted his schedule to account for that, as frustrating as it was. Better than getting taken to court, though, and thankfully Emi had taken to the routine without much difficulty.

He shook the thoughts from his head and headed back inside. When he got inside, he quickly dressed into something a bit more presentable, combed his hair, and made himself a simple breakfast. Thankfully enough, there’d been a few eggs and a sausage patty left from the few things he’s picked up, so he paired those on top of one of the last two bagels he had left, and poured himself the last bit of apple juice. He settled in at his laptop, opened his work software, and finished setting up his little work station for the day. He made sure he had his notebook nearby, so he could work on his school assignment between calls, and munched on his breakfast.

The call queue was typically pretty steady on Fridays, which made sense. People tended to put it off until right before the weekend to debate this charge or that charge to their account, thinking that everyone else would jump on their own situation earlier in the week. He kept a tally in the top corner of his notebook on how many people started slinging insults at him if he couldn’t help them immediately about having this or that refunded, and another tally in the bottom margin of how many people had misheard his name as something else. Fridays he typically got the highest number and, around ten thirty that morning, he was already pushing close to twenty in both categories.

Though, he’d gotten his favorite threat so far, and quickly jotted it down at the bottom of his page. After informing a man that he couldn’t refund a charge to his card where his son had purchased three pornos, due to the fact that the purchase was over two months old and out of their allotted window of debate, the man had declared he would, “Track you down, _Kenneth_ , just so I can chop your big toe off and _feed it to you_!”

That was when the call got escalated to Keith’s superior, but it had been an interesting reason to escalate, at the least.

While he was left waiting for the escalation to be handled, as they always waited until they were handled to drop a rep back into the call queue, he noticed his phone flashing silently just above his notebook. He picked it up and saw a missed call from an unfamiliar number, as well as a voicemail. He pulled it up and selected the speak-to-text option, and perked up in surprise at the message that awaited him.

“Good morning, Mr. Kogane. My name is Romelle from Love Machine Auto-Repair shop. I was just calling to say that your vehicle, the Honda Civic, should be ready for pick-up around 1pm this afternoon. Please feel free to call back closer to the designated time, just to verify. Thank you and have a lovely day,” It read, a slow smile turning up on his lips. Oh, that was certainly a good bit of news to receive so early into the day.

He went through the next hour of his work with a bit more pep than usual, feeling relieved to know that he’d have his car back in time to get Emily. He figured he could just flag a cab or an Uber to get to the shop, rather than have to bother any of his friends or family. As he prepared to sign off for his lunch break, he decided that he decided to see about dipping out early for the day. He dropped the query into the group chat that the representatives used to ask questions and alert their superiors if they had calls that were getting close to escalation.

“You’re moving today, right? Though I thought you said you’d be fine to work the whole shift. Did something happen to you or Emily?” His supervisor, Antok, asked.

Keith smiled a bit at the question, appreciating Antok’s concern. While some of the representatives worked from home, they were all required to live in the city and attend a refresher course once every three months or so. He’d met Antok at one of the classes about two years ago, and it touched him how the other still remembered so much and checked in with him often. “I was in a minor car accident yesterday, but the shop I took my car to just called and said it should be ready in about an hour and half. I figure I’d just leave early so I can finish with the last bit of packing I have to do before I have to pick up the car and then pick up Emily.”

“That should be fine. You’ve never left early before, so it’s fine. Did you want to use paid time off or unpaid time off for it?” He asked.

“Unpaid time off will be fine. It’s only about two hours I’ll be missing. Thank you, Antok,” He sent back.

“No problem. Good luck with the move,” Antok sent back. With that handled, Keith clocked out, logged out, and closed his laptop.

After that, he headed back to Emily’s room and prepared her weekend bag with some spare clothes, her spare toiletries, and then, when he went back out to the front room, tucked Chestnut in the bag as well. He made sure to leave it unzipped enough to allow the plush toy’s little head to stick out. He set the bag by the door and then started packing up his PlayStation, internet router, and a few other smaller personal effects in the room. He’d need to get some more newspapers for the few pictures on the wall, but he figured he could grab that while he was at lunch.

After packing up a few more little things in Emily’s room, he fished out his phone to check the time. 12:45. He pulled up his recent calls list, selected the unfamiliar number from before, and dialed them up. It rang three times before a chipper voice chimed, “Hello, Love Machine Auto-Repair. My name is Romelle, how may I help you?”

“Hello, Romelle. I’m Keith Kogane. You called me a little bit ago about my Honda Civic,” He said calmly.

“Oh, Mr. Kogane! It’s wonderful to hear from you! How has your day been going for you?”

“Been going okay, thank you for asking. How about for yourself?”

“Very well! Now, give me just one second to touch base with the mechanics to see how things are going. Would you be okay if I put you on hold for just a moment?” She asked politely.

“That’s fine, thank you,” He answered. There was a small click before the sounds of soft jazz music filled his ear. He settled in at the kitchen table again, packing his laptop and notebook into the shoulder bag he kept the device in when he went to school.

Thankfully, he was left waiting for less than five minutes. “Thank you so much for your patience, Mr. Kogane. Your car is ready for pick-up whenever is best for you,” She said happily.

“Thank you so much. I’ll be there shortly,” He said before hanging up. He released a small, relieved sigh and got up, grabbing his wallet, keys, Emily’s weekend bag, his laptop and his small switchblade as he did. Keith normally didn’t use things like Uber or taxis, partly because most of the time he had his own car, partly because the drivers didn’t have child seats included for Emily, but most importantly because of all the horror stories he’d heard about people being attacked, robbed or worse before. He was willing to risk it since it was just him and the drive wouldn’t be a very a far trip, but he was still going to take his knife just in case he encountered some trouble. Getting an Uber driver was surprisingly easy and painless. The guy driving him wasn’t much of a talker, which he appreciated, and reached the shop without incident.

He spotted his car parked right in the front and paused to walk around it, his eyes wide in disbelief. “No way,” He mumbled, dragging his fingers along the completely smooth and flat surface of the hood. There were still some smaller nicks and chips to the paint, but it took a keen eye to notice them right away. It almost looked as if it hadn’t been scrunched to Hell by the force of the blow less than 24 hours prior! Additionally, the missing headlight had been replaced and the bumper was back in place. Much like with the hood, there were some scrapes and spots of missing paint, but ultimately the car looked to be just as good as it had been the day before.

“There’s a bit of cosmetic stuff, but I didn’t want to do any of that without your permission,” The familiar voice of Hunk chimed behind him, causing him to jump and look over his shoulder. Hunk waved one hand apologetically. “Ah, sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

“No, it’s fine. Thank you so much for getting my car back in shape for me so quickly,” He said, still a bit in awe as he looked over his car yet again. He let one hand settle on his hips before gesturing with one hand. “I mean, it looks almost perfect again.”

Hunk smiled at him wide and genuine, something warm and transparent that forced Keith to keep his eyes glued on the other. “Well, I’m glad you like my work,” He mused lightly. His gaze softened a bit as his dark eyes shifted from the car back to Keith. “And, I’ll be honest, I wanted to get this ready for you since you’ve got your daughter to take care of. I have some nieces and nephews and I watch my friend’s kid for him some times, so I know how it can be. It’s not always easy when you’ve got a little one to cart around, so I wanted to make sure you were set up as quick as possible.”

Keith felt a small flash of heat crawl up his face and he offered a bashful smile. “I… Really appreciate it. It’s very thoughtful of you,” He said, tearing his gaze away to look back at his car and trying to calm himself a little bit. He didn’t want to look too deep into the other’s kindness. He felt like he could actually breath again, though, knowing he’d have his car so he could get Emily to the Wickertons’ house and move some of the smaller boxes to their new abode.

“Feel free to call the shop and let us know if you notice any problems, though. I’m not saying that my work isn’t great, but I’m also not going to pretend like there isn’t always the chance that I missed something,” Hunk said, reaching into one of his pockets and producing the car keys for him.

Keith took them and nodded. “Thanks again. It’s a huge relief,” He reiterated. Keith wasn’t always the best with people, but he always did his best to make his appreciation crystal clear in instances where it was warranted.

Hunk looked like he wanted to say something else, but was caught off at the sounds of a loud whistle from the front door of the shop. A tall, lumbering man with a scowl on his lips stood there. “Yo, boss, we need you inside! Customer seems to think my diagnosis for their car is complete bull and want you to personal verify!” The other mechanic called out, a bit of a bite to his words. Not that he could blame the mechanic for it; he tended to get pretty irritated with customers that tried to claim he wasn’t doing his job right, too.

“Be right there, Rax!” Hunk called back, turning to offer Keith a sheepish grin. “Never a dull moment, huh? Well, I hope you have a good one. And don’t forget; feel free to call if anything seems off. Oh! And you’ll probably need to readjust your mirrors and seat a little bit from me pulling it to the front!” He said, starting to walk backwards towards the door and waving as he did.

“I will. And thank you again!” Keith said, waving back with a small smile of his own. He waited until Hunk had disappeared inside the shop to turn and slip back into his car. It took him a minute to get everything in the car properly adjusted for himself again, then cautiously put the key in the ignition and turned it. He let out a long, drawn out groan of satisfaction when it kicked back up with the soft purring whirl he was accustom to. “I know it’s only been half a day but I’ve missed you, Myra.” He mumbled, giving the steering wheel a small pat.

With that handled, he picked up a quick and cheap lunch at the McDonald’s in the supercenter he stopped by just a few blocks from Emily’s daycare. After eating his small meal, he went over to the housewares and paint department to get the colors he needed started. He stopped by the color swatches before placing the order, eyeballing a few, before deciding on a dark crimson for his own room. A splash of color might do him some good, he figured. It would take about two hours before his paints would be mixed and ready to go, which would work out perfectly.

He paid for the paint right away and tucked the receipt into his back pocket, then milled about the store for just a little bit. He could go pick Emily up at any time, but he wanted to wait until he was closer to her usual pick-up time. He idled through the housewares aisle, looking at the pillows and placemats, then paused once he reached the bedding sets. He skimmed through the selection of children’s options, picked one that seemed like a perfect fit, then headed to the checkout by the exit. By the time he finished paying, it was about time he got headed to Emily’s preschool.

The location was one that Coran had suggested, as he knew one of the instructors at the facility. It required background checks on not only all members of the staff, but also any parents or additional family members that wanted clearance to check the children out for the day. There was also a code that unlocked the doors at the front that was only given to those that were accepted in to the preschool’s program, which Keith greatly appreciated. He knew that it wasn’t a fool-proof approach, but it certainly made him feel a bit more comfortable about leaving his daughter there for a good portion of the day. He punched the code in at the door, headed in, and approached the front desk, where the binder for each of the different age groups sat. “Hello, Narti,” He said politely to the young woman settled behind the counter, clacking away at the computer in front of her.

She made some small noise of acknowledgement of Keith’s greeting but didn’t lift her head to him. She had one ear bud in her other ear and Kova, her service cat, was settled beside her like usual. He didn’t know a whole lot about Narti other than that she was blind and mute, as she was normally not working in the morning when he came to drop Emily off. She was an afternoon worker that did little lessons with the kids, teaching them how to understand braille, and Emi insisted that she was very nice and always listened to her when she talked. He had seen her offer small smiles to his daughter when she’d say good-bye on their way out, too, so he knew that she had to have some care for her work. As such, even if she seemed completely ambivalent to Keith, he took the time to greet her when he came in. He couldn’t find it in him to be gruff with people that were nice to Emily, after all.

After signing and jotting down the time beside Emily’s name in the check-out column, he head down the nearby hallway until he spotted the classroom with the little Dalmatian cut-out on the window, a little bone in its grinning mouth that read, “Miss Trisha.” He peered around the little cut-out to make sure there weren’t any children playing too close to the door and slowly pushed it open.

At the sound of the door creaking open, sixteen little heads swiveled to stare at him, lined up neatly beside the small sink in the corner. “Daddy!” Emily squealed, flailing a paint-coated hand at him eagerly.

He chuckled as he wandered in and waved back. “Hey there, baby,” He said warmly. Miss Trisha smiled at him before motioning Emi to herself. “Okay, kids. Since Emi’s daddy is here, we need to let her get washed up first, okay?” She said.

Fifteen little voices responded with “Okay, Miss Trisha,” and Emi scurried along to the front. Keith was pleased to see that both of her little bows were still tied up in her hair. He headed over to the nearby shelves where little pictures of each of the kids was placed, with their names written under it, and adjacent hooks underneath where their backpacks were hung. Inside her cubby was her neatly folded coat from the morning, as well as her assignment folder. He then approached the little accordion art folder in the corner, skimming through for her name and pulling out a few different pieces from her. He tucked the art into her folder, then placed both her jacket and folder into her backpack.

Once he’d gathered all those things, he turned just in time to brace himself for a small, child-sized missile to slam into his legs. He chuckled and shifted, kneeling down so he could scoop her up in his arms. “Hey there, baby girl. How was your day?” He mused, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“Good! We made finger paintings today!” She said excitedly, her little hands clutching at his shoulders as he stood back up. He moved one of his arms down to gently support her and keep her propped up on his hip.

“That’s not the only thing that we did today, either,” Miss Trisha mused, walking over and offering him the little page that updated him on everything they class had done that day.

Emi’s eyes lit up and she bounced a bit in his grip as he reached to take the page. “I got to use the puppet during story time!” She said, her voice a near shout in Keith’s ear.

He chuckled to mask a wince at how loud she was being. “Oh, is that so? You’ve been looking forward to your turn for that for a while,” He said, glancing down at the page in his hand. According to the page, she’d eaten all of her breakfast and lunch, which was a relief. The last two days she’d only eaten a little over a third of her meals and he’d been worried she might be coming down with something. “Thank you, Miss Trisha. Have a good weekend.” He said politely before heading towards the door.

“I’ll see you two on Monday,” Miss Trisha giggled with a wave before heading back over to the line of toddlers still waiting to have their hands scrubbed clean.

“So what story did you get to help tell today?” He asked as they walked out.

“It was ‘If you give a mouse a cookie’! It’s about a mouse that gets a cookie and then he needs a whole bunch of other stuff, too!” She said excitedly, breaking the story down word for word as they headed out. She paused briefly at the exit to peer over Keith’s shoulder to call out an enthusiastic “Bye bye!” to Narti and Kova. He heard Narti let out a much quieter but surprisingly cheerful response and even Kova let out a little mewl of his own.

The minute they got outside, she squirmed out of his grasp and darted over to embrace the hood of their car, excited to see it back in action. Keith had laughed lightly as he watched his daughter inform their car that she was glad she was feeling better and that she’d missed her, as if the huge machine actually understood. He settled her into her car seat once she was done and set her weekend bag in her lap so she could cuddle with Chestnut on the drive to the Wickertons. Last week she’d forgotten her little horse friend and barely been able to sleep without him. A part of Keith had been upset to see how tired she’d been. He’d offered to bring Chestnut by once he realized she’d forgotten him, but Mrs. Wickerton had been insistent that Emily would be fine without him. The fact Emily was nodding off during dinner when he brought her home Sunday evening was a testament to how misguided that belief had been.

He pulled up and felt a small scowl twist on to his face at the fidgeting woman pacing along the front patio. “Seriously?” He mumbled quietly to himself.

Emi perked up and looked out the window, a little scowl of her own appearing on her face. “Gramma seems upset. Did something happen?” She asked.

“Gramma is just worried about you. She’s probably still a little worried about the accident yesterday, that maybe you got hurt,” He said, making sure to keep his own frustration from his voice as he parked the car and killed the engine. He didn’t hate the Wickertons by any stretch, but they were absolutely exhausting to deal with.

Dealing with them should have been Sadie’s responsibility, but since she couldn’t, it fell to Keith. And it was certainly a challenge sometimes.

The minute Emily was out of the car, Mrs. Wickerton was rushing down the patio steps to greet her. “Oh, my little girl!” She cried out, immediately scooping the small child up in her arms.

“Hi, Gramma!” Emily said, her voice a little muffled by the older woman’s shoulder, but reaching in to embrace her.

Keith walked over calmly, Emily’s weekend bag over one shoulder and her schoolbag over the other. “Hello, Mrs. Wickerton,” He said.

The older woman didn’t even cast a glance up at him, pulling back a bit from Emi to cup her cheeks. “Emily, darling, how are you feeling? Are you doing okay? Does anything hurt?” She asked frantically.

The little girl shook her head while Keith took a deep breath. “Mrs. Wickerton, she’s fine. The paramedics looked at her right after the accident, and I’ve been keep an eye on her to make sure she isn’t acting in a way that raises any concern,” He said calmly.

“You couldn’t even be bothered to pay enough attention to not get in the accident in the first place. How am I supposed to trust that you’re paying attention to her needs now?” Mrs. Wickerton hissed at him, lifting her head a bit to glare at him.

Keith stared at her for a moment before he glared. “ _Excuse me_? I had right of way! It was a green arrow and the other car _sped through a red light_!” He snapped.

“Which is why _I_ always wait a full fifteen seconds after the light changes before I go. You need to be aware of your surroundings; _especially_ when you have _a child_ to look after,” She scoffed lightly, her gaze piercing like a dagger. Keith could feel his face warming up in rage, the tips of ears gaining the all too familiar tingle as it crawled over him. How _dare_ she? What kind of mental gymnastics did she had to pull to pin an accident on him when he was the one with right of way?

Emily perked up, looking from Keith over to Mrs. Wickerton. “Gramma Lydia, that’s _not nice_! It wasn’t Daddy’s fault! The meanie head was the bad guy!” She declared with a small pout on her lips.

Mrs. Wickerton’s face immediately softened for the little girl. “Of course, darling. That was uncouth of me,” She said, her tone soft and apologetic, though it didn’t reach her eyes. She stood up and looked at Keith with a false smile in place, but he could still see a quietly brewing anger in her eyes. “Would you like to come in for a bit, Keith? Eli mentioned wanting to chat with you for a second or two.”

“I appreciate the invite, but I’m afraid I can’t. I still have a lot of errands to run before we start moving things from the apartment to Mom’s place,” He said, forcing on a polite smile of his own.

“So busy you can’t even make time for family time with your daughter and her grandparents? My, it sounds like you haven’t been doing very well in regards to time management. With how long you’ve known you were going to be doing this, you really should have taken more care to prepare,” She chided lightly, reaching out for Emily’s weekend bag.

Keith shoved them into her arms with just a smidge more force than he needed to, but the bewildered look he got seemed enough to cause her to realize she should step down. “I made sure to put Chestnut in her bag for her, so she shouldn’t have any trouble sleeping this time around. Also, she has a small spelling assignment to complete. Perhaps this weekend you can do better with _your own time management_ and see to it that it gets done before she comes home Sunday evening,” He said, making sure to use the same patronizing tone that Mrs. Wickerton had taken with him. He then leaned down and pulled Emily in for another hug, secretly delighting in how the older woman flushed and muttered to herself, tucking a fading brown lock of hair behind her ear. “You be good for Gramma Lydia and Grampa Eli, okay?” He said.

“I will! And I’ll make sure my spelling work gets done, too!” She said happily, squeezing him as tight as her little arms would allow.

He smiled and gave her a quick peck, giving another quick squeeze before letting her go. “That’s my girl. I love you, baby doll,”

“I love you, too, Daddy!” She said happily before heading back over to Mrs. Wickerton. The older woman was sweet to her, but cast one last disdainful look at Keith before leading his daughter up the steps and inside.

Keith glared at her retreating form before heading back to his car and sending Allura a quick text of, “Holy shit, I fucking hate her.”

Less than two minutes later, as he was turning out of the neighborhood, his phone started chiming with the custom ringtone he’d picked for Allura. “I take it the drop off didn’t go as smoothly as you’d been hoping?” She asked when he answered.

Keith let out a low, drawn-out groan as his initial response.

That earned him a short laugh from his friend. “Oh, my. It’s been a while since you’ve reacted like _that_ to her prodding. I take it she was especially hostile this time around?”

“She normally just does passive-aggressive. And, sure, she did that, too, but she was _openly hostile_ this time around. Had some _very strong opinions_ about how the accident was my fault,” He scoffed.

“ _Excuse me_? _How_ was that your fault _at all_? You had the right of way! The police even arrested the other driver, correct?”

“That’s _exactly_ what I said! But no, it was my fault because I don’t drive like she does. Because, apparently, even if _I_ have right of way, _I_ should be yielding for an additional _fifteen seconds_ ,” He huffed, clutching at the steering wheel with his other hand. He glanced at the time and felt a small flash of disappointment that he’d still have to wait a while before the paint would be ready. Well, he could probably get himself a drink and type up his paper in the McDonald’s while he waited. “Like, I get that she has a lot of anxiety about this kind of stuff. And I’m certain that part of the reason she gets this way about Emily is because she misses Sadie, and she feels awful that they never had the chance to make amends with Sadie before she was… Well, gone, but it’s just exhausting to deal with. I’ve been raising Emily just fine all this time and she didn’t have any interest in getting to know her granddaughter until a year after we moved back out here. It’s just difficult to deal with her.”

“I’m inclined to agree. I hate to think how it would feel to lose a child, and especially when you and that child weren’t on the best of terms when they passed,” Allura agreed softly, “but I think a lot of her actions and attitudes towards you are unjust. It’s almost as if she blames you for what happened, which is not only ridiculous, but ultimately detrimental. The fact is that you are her parent and they only get to see her because you allow them to.”

Keith hummed in agreement, deciding not to mention the comment that Elijah and Lydia had made to him about three months ago, when he first explained that he’d be moving back in with his mom. He’d actually been extremely furious by it and made that point clear to both of them. The only person he’d talked to about it was Shiro and Krolia, as the mere thought of it made him feel sick with anxiety and anger. “Anyway, I should let you go, since I know you’re at work. I need to go pick up the paint and see about moving some of the small boxes, too,” He mused.

“Oh, were you going to start painting today?” She asked in slight surprise.

“Well, I figured it would be better than having to do the painting tomorrow and making everyone wait around for it to dry before we move the bigger things,” He said calmly.

“Why not just do it tomorrow? I mean, you still have to take apart some of the bigger pieces and pack up a few more things, right? We can get the painting started and, while it dries, we can head back over to the apartment and finish moving the rest of the smaller stuff, and then see how the paint is doing. If we need to apply another coat, we can do that, and then get the bigger pieces taken apart and moved over. And if it looks good without the need for a second coat of paint, we can just go and get the big pieces right then,” She suggested.

“I don’t want to hold everyone up, though,” He said worriedly.

“You’re our friend and we want to help you. You should spent tonight relaxing and resting, so that then all the stuff tomorrow takes less out of you. Take a little time for yourself and unwind,” She encouraged. He let out another thoughtful hum at the suggestion. “You’ve had a stressful couple of days, Keith; you’ve earned the chance to just let it all go and relax. Anyway, let me know what you decide and we can coordinate for what time we want to head over at.”

They exchanged quick goodbyes and he hung up. While he waited on the paint, he picked up some newspapers and smaller moving boxes for when he got back to the apartment. He figured he could at least finish packing up the last few things so that it was just a matter of moving boxes in the morning. He loaded up the paint in the back seat with the rest of the things he’d picked up and headed for the apartment.

Once he got back, he decided to start with Emily’s room, since most of the unpacked items were there. He grabbed two decently sized boxes and got to work. He hadn’t wanted to start packing up any of her toys or books too soon, especially since she didn’t have a particularly large array of toys to begin with. Keith always made sure to set money aside so that her birthday and Christmas could be worth the wait, and there were always gifts for her from Krolia, Matt and Shiro, and Lance and Allura, but compared to the amount of toys he’d seen some other kids have? Her collection wasn’t nearly as grand and, sometimes, he felt incredibly guilty about it. Especially considering that, when he really thought about it, he could count the amount of times Emily had gone out of her way to throw a fit over wanting something on one hand.

He always made sure that her needs were met, spent as much time as he could with her by either playing or reading or coloring, but that didn’t change how sometimes he felt it wasn’t enough. There were still times where he had to turn her down so that he could make up hours from work that he’d missed due to doctor’s appointments or parent-teacher conferences. There were still days where, instead of spending his Saturday or Sunday off of work with Emily playing, she’d go out for the afternoon with Krolia, or visit at Shiro and Matt’s, because he was struggling to keep up with all his classes. Unless there was a good reason for it, though, he always made sure to see through the evening routine and singing her a song and telling her a story before tucking her into bed for the night. But sometimes he worried that it wasn’t enough, that Emily didn’t feel like a priority to him.

_“So busy you can’t even make time for family time with your daughter and her grandparents? My, it sounds like you haven’t been doing very well in regards to time management.”_

He felt his hand clench around another one of Emily’s stuffed animals as those words cut back into his mind. The Wickerton’s had no rights to sit there and look down their noses at him! They hadn’t even been involved with Emily for a full year yet, and they thought that they knew what was best for her? It would have made him laugh if he wasn’t so disgusted by them.

They were the ones that told Sadie they’d have nothing to do with her or the child if she decided to keep the baby when she found out she was pregnant.

They were the ones that had told him that he would never amount to anything and would be a terrible Dad because of his poor attitude and even worse temper.

They were the ones that had insisted that they could take Emily “off his hands” when he said that they’d be moving back in with his Mom.

They were the ones that mentioned their attorney friend when he threatened to limit their visitation with Emily for daring to suggest he saw his little girl as a burden.

Emily was his whole world, the light of his life. He would sooner commit any heinous, awful act someone could suggest to him than ever not be her primary care taker. It wasn’t easy being her only parent, but he loved her and wanted to be there to take care of her. He’d known it the minute he and Sadie agreed they were going to see things through and raise her, and he’d promised it to her the second he got to hold her once she was born.

There was a loud clatter from the apartment above his and he jumped in alarm, his vision a bit foggy. He blinked rapidly before wiping at his eyes, surprised to find them starting to brim with tears. He shook his head and hurried through packing up the rest of her toys, feeling oddly drained despite how little he’d actually accomplished.

He couldn’t help but think about what Allura said to him earlier as he swallowed hard, thinking that maybe she was on the right path with her thoughts. Maybe spending a night relaxing before they got to the hard work would be good for him, help him get comfortable. It might be nice to settle in and just spent the night hanging out with Krolia.

He left everything where it was in the moment, swiped his keys of the kitchen table, and hurried back to his Mom’s house.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The morning started out pretty good, as far as Keith was concerned. He had decided to go with Allura’s suggestion and, after bringing the paint and some other things they’d need to paint home, he’d decided to settle in for the evening. He and his Mom had a nice dinner together and ended up watching some serial killer shows afterwards. He went to bed early and woke up feeling surprisingly well-rested, considering he’d slept on the pull-put couch in the living room since his futon was still in his apartment, a sense of cautious optimism settling in as he woke more and more.

Allura called him early on, concerned that they would be late and that Alfor would be tagging along for about an hour. "I'm terribly sorry," She said, "but Coran stayed late at the office last night so I could attend Alfor's floor routine rehearsal last night, and I want to give him some time to sleep in. Lance is over at his friend's house right now, loading up a dolly in case it's needed, so they need just a little bit more time."

"Don't worry about it, Allura. You guys are doing me a huge favor by helping out at all; I’m not gonna complain if you need a little bit more time to get ready,” He reassured, grateful that they'd thought ahead to grab the dolly as well. Emily's dresser was tall and stout, so a dolly would probably be easier to get it out with than having two people try to awkwardly shuffle it out.

She giggled lightly. "Thank you, Keith. I'll shoot you a text once we're on our way over," She said. With a brief goodbye, the two of them hung up and he headed downstairs.

Krolia was leaning against the kitchen counter, messing with something on her phone, but perked up when he walked in. "How long before everyone gets here?" She asked with a small hum.

"Not too sure. Allura said she's going to be a little late, but she said she'd let me know when they were heading over," He said with a small shrug.

Krolia hummed before turning to look at her coffee maker and then smiled. "Hey, why don't we have some breakfast waiting for everyone when they get here?" She suggested.

He blinked then smiled and nodded. "That's a really good idea. What should we make?"

"Not make; pick up. And what could be better than donuts?" She said, plucking her purse off the counter and rummaging through. She produced her wallet, pulled out her debit card and offered it to him. "There's a small donut shop right down the street that should have just opened. Pick up a variety of donuts and I'll get some coffee going. They're all being nice enough to help us, so we may as well treat them to a little sweet treat. Go with two baker’s dozen variety, so that there’s something for everyone, and since they’ll get eaten anyway. You remember my pin, right?" She said.

"Kinda hard to forget my own birthday," He teased, taking the card. "Oh, and is it okay if I get a little thing of milk for Alfor? He's coming along for a little bit but it sounds like Coran will pick him up later."

"That's fine. While you do that, I'll get the coffee started and see about getting Emily’s room ready for painting,” She said.

The trip to the donut shop took longer than he’d been planning, but he figured it was a worked out well. The shop was open, but their first batch of donuts had been finishing up in the oven when he arrived. He sat and waited for about twenty minutes on them, having a surprisingly pleasant conversation with the owner about their business. It was a simple Ma-and-Pa style place, but they’d gained a really great reputation and most of the people in the area preferred them to the bigger corporate-owned businesses’ in the area. Just from the smell, Keith could easily understand why the neighborhood felt that way.

Once they were ready, he was given two long, powder blue boxes filled with fresh pastries and a small child-sized container of chocolate milk. The bottom of the boxes were still warm and he felt a little giddy at getting to have donuts this fresh. He offered a quick “thank you” before heading back to his car, setting the boxes in the passenger seat and the milk in the cup holder.

He pulled up to the house and blinked in surprise at seeing a large, yellow truck that looked too new for its age parked along the curb. Or, rather, surprise at the familiar figure hovering by the driver’s side door and talking with Lance. He carefully grabbed the donuts after opening his own door and headed over, his head cocked a bit to make sure his eyes weren’t playing a trick on him.

“Hunk?” He asked in surprise.

The other perked up, huge grin still in place, then seemed shocked himself. “Oh, wow! You’re Keith Kogane, right?” He asked with a small laugh.

Lance looked between the two curiously. “Wait, you two know each other?” He asked, pointing between them curiously.

“Yeah, he runs the mechanic shop that my car was fixed up at,” Keith said with a small, surprised laugh. He shifted the boxes of donuts in his hands carefully. “I know I said it yesterday, but thank you again for being so fast about it. It made life way easier having my car back yesterday.”

“Hey, it was my pleasure. Like I said, I know how it can be when you have a -!” Hunk started, cutting off with a yelp at the loud blare of his truck horn going off. The other two jumped and shouted in surprise, Keith nearly toppling the two boxes of donuts if not for Lance reaching out a hand to help steady them in his grasp. Kneeling on the booth seat inside was Alfor, huge grin in place, both hands slammed right against the center of the wheel.

He lifted his hands, blue eyes bright in amusement at the reaction. “Your horn works really well, Uncle Hunk!” He announced.

The other laughed. “Well, I would hope so! Now come here, buddy, before you decide to take it for a test drive,” He said, reaching in to pluck the toddler up.

“Can I?” He asked with bright, hopeful eyes.

“I’ll tell you what; ask me again in about thirteen, maybe fourteen years. Sound like a deal?” He asked, kneeling down and offering his hand to the little guy.

“Deal!” He agreed before darting up the little grassy yard to where Allura and Krolia stood chatting. “Mommy! Guess what Uncle Hunk promised?” He called.

Lance cast a suspicious glance at Hunk. “Did you actually mean that promise?”

“If I still have this truck when he’s old enough to drive, I will let him drive it a whole minute. No more, no less. I’ve spent the better half of five years basically rebuilding that baby from the ground up in my spare time; I’m not going to let just anyone into the cab,” He said evenly, shutting the driver’s side door carefully.

“Are you sure you’re okay with using it to cart my stuff to and from here and the apartment, then?” Keith asked worriedly, stealing another glance at the car. He wasn’t a huge buff when it came to classic vehicles, but he’d certainly seen some that he found to be interesting. He nodded his head at the truck in question as the trio made their way up the yard. “I wanna say it’s an early-70s model, yeah?”

Hunk’s dark eyes gleamed in delight. “72. You into classic cars?” He asked curiously.

“More a fan of motorcycles, but I know a very little bit about basic car stuff, by proxy,” He said with a small shrug.

“Hey, classic motorcycles have their place in history, too. I actually rebuilt a 1980 Suzuki Katana with one of my buddies a little while ago. Remind me to give you my number before I leave and I’ll send you the pics,” He said happily.

Keith’s eyes lit up. “Are you serious?” He asked with a small, disbelieving laugh.

“Oh, yeah. That baby took a lot more time than I expected, since we ended up having to order a lot of parts directly from Japan, but it looked pretty damn slick once we were done,” Hunk said, just as excited as they headed inside.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The move goes along about as smoothly as can be expected, with some new friendships beginning to develop. And, as Keith gets to chat a bit more with Hunk, an interest of something more may be kindled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Allurance and Shatt shown in this chapter. Also, minor mention of homophobia/ implied homophobia.

While they were having their donuts, Keith ran over the game plan with everyone. Krolia had been kind enough to put down the painter’s tape, the tarp and moved the paint cans to their respective rooms while she’d been waiting for them all. “So what color did you end up picking for your own room?” Allura asked curiously before pausing to pin Lance and Alfor with a stern look. Both her boys were sipping milk through straws and, deciding they were bored of simply drinking it, had started to blow bubbles that were teetering close to the rim of their glasses. They stared back at her for a moment, her glare narrowing slightly, before exchanging glances with each other and taking quiet sips from their cups.

“I just went with red and white. The red is called Real Red and then I just got regular white for the trim,” He said with a small shrug, plucking a cream-filled long john from the open box of donuts.

“I take it red’s your favorite color?” Hunk asked, taking a small sip from his coffee.

Keith nodded, wiping a bit of cream from the corner of his mouth with his thumb and then quickly licking it off. “Yeah, it is. My plan for my room isn’t as elaborate as what I want to do with Emi’s room – though, admittedly, that’s not really _that_ glamorous – but I figure it’s still something,” He said with a small shrug.

“Oh, what are we doing in her room?” Lance hummed.

“The plan is purple for the walls, with pink for the trim as well as to make some polka-dots on the walls. She’s been big on pastel colors and patterns, so I figure she’ll like that,” He explained.

“Oh, that’ll look really cute. I’m sure she’ll love it,” Hunk agreed with a grin.

Keith flashed a small smile of his own in return. “I’m hoping so. I went and got her a new bedspread to match with it, too, so we’ll see,” He said. He then let out a small swear and pushed up from his seat. “I need to get that in the wash, actually. I want to make sure it’s fresh for when she comes home tomorrow.”

“You should wait until we get the painting done and her bed moved over. Besides, you won’t be picking her up until around 4 o’clock tomorrow, right? You can worry about that tomorrow afternoon,” Krolia pointed out.

“I guess you’re right,” He said before slipping back into his seat and taking the last bite from his donut. He glanced over at Hunk as he stood, heading into the kitchen to prepare himself another cup of coffee. It was a little funny to watch this near-complete stranger mill about the kitchen like it was nothing. “I’m sorry you got dragged into helping out. I’ll try to keep things fast so you don’t have to waste your whole day here.”

This caused the other to blink in surprise, brown eyes widening before he offered a small smile and waved one hand in the air. “Hey, it’s totally cool. I actually offered when Lance mentioned that you were moving all your stuff,” He said.

“So it wasn’t because you were uncomfortable with the idea of lending me your truck?” Lance asked with a raised brow.

Hunk snorted and took a sip of his coffee. “Nah, dude. I usually spend my weekends either working on old cars or lazing around with Nebbie, anyway, so I figured it’d be nice to get out and shake up my routine a little,” He said with a shrug.

Lance turned to look over at Allura, almost seeming to be preening. “I _told_ you Hunk trusted me and was just trying to be an awesome, helpful guy! As per usual,” He mused happily. She rolled her eyes a bit but didn’t comment further as their attention shifted over to Alfor, whom had started pulling on Lance’s sleeve to ask him something.

“Who’s Nebbie?” Keith asked politely, veering the conversation back to Hunk as he stood up to go start the painting. He didn’t want to be pulling him away from his partner, if that was the case.

The other’s eyes got bright and he rummaged through his pocket to fish out his phone. “Oh, let me show you!” He was nearly giggling, shifting through his photos to then present it to Keith.

On the screen before him was an incredibly large, extremely fluff, ridiculously majestic house cat. The cat was lounging across a window sill, their back facing the outside world, large pumpkin orange eyes focused in on the camera. The cat’s appearance reminded Keith of an off-color lion-tiger hybrid of some kind. It had a large, white mane. The color of the mane-like fluff disappeared down across its chest and there were white rings around its eyes. From there, it branched out to light shades grey with darker grey stripes. All along it’s back was the darker grey color, but it dipped into stripes along either of its sides which were also lightly outlined in white. The rest of the spaces between the dark grey stripes were filled with the lighter grey. His fur was long, thick, and clearly well-maintained. He was so fluffy, in fact, that there were tufts sticking up at the tips of his ears and even some visible sticking out between his little toes. “That is a very pretty cat,” Keith said with a small laugh.

“And he knows it! Nebbie loves any and all attention he can get out of you,” Hunk laughed before returning his phone to his pocket.

“Nebbie’s like a puppy! He plays fetch and tag!” Alfie declared around a mouthful of food, earning a laugh from the adults.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, little buddy. That’s impolite,” Lance chided lightly, grabbing a napkin and wiping some dribble from his face. He then looked back over at Keith. “But he is telling the truth. Nebbie’s like a dog in a cat’s body.”

“It’s pretty common for his breed, though. Every Maine Coon I’ve ever met has been an outgoing and playful little stinker,” Hunk agreed happily, taking another sip from his mug before setting it down on the counter. “Mind if I help you get started upstairs?”

“Feel free,” Keith said, blinking in surprise. He hadn’t been expecting the other to realize he was going to get started. Hunk followed after him with a small hum. “Maine Coon, huh? I feel like I’ve heard of that breed before.”

“They’re pretty well-known as being one of the few breeds of cats that even dog people like, because of how much of their personalities reflect a dog. They love to play, are extremely affectionate and outgoing, genuinely love being around people… Female Maine Coons tend to be a bit more reserved, though, but even they’re really sweet once they get a bit more adjusted to you,” He explained. He let Keith start heading up the stairs first, padding along after he’d gotten up the first few steps. “I’ve had Nebula for close to two years now and I’ve never had a sweeter pet.”

“His full name is Nebula? That’s absolutely adorable,” He laughed, pausing to look at the door to Emi’s room with a small frown. Should they paint the inside of the door, too? Would they have to paint with the door open the whole time? “Hey, mind if I ask a question?”

“You already did,” Hunk said teasingly. Keith turned to stare at him for a moment and, seeming to take the look as annoyance, rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly. “Ah, sorry. That wasn’t very funny.”

“No, it’s okay,” He said quickly, “I just wasn’t expecting it.”

“What were you gonna ask?”

“Do you think taking the door off its hinges would be particularly difficult?” He asked, pausing to push the door open and indicate the hinges. Hunk moved a bit closer to examine them, humming lightly. “I mean, at the apartment the door hinges were screwed into the frame at a weird angle, so getting them out would have been a huge ordeal. But these ones are a lot simpler.”

The other let out a contemplative noise of acknowledgement, cupping his chin in one hand. He reached out with the other and lightly tapped the top of one of the screws bolting the door hinge in place. “Well, the only thing is that they’re in there pretty tight. I should have my power drill in the truck, though, so I can get them out. Let me go get that real fast,” He said, pushing himself upright and heading down the stairs. While he did that, Keith headed into the room to see where everything was at.

As she’d said, the tarp and painter’s tape were all set up. The paint cans, three trays, two rollers, and a few regular brushes were all set next to the cans, all still in their respective packages. He peered around the room, walking over to the closet and peering inside, determining how he wanted to place her furniture once it was ready for it. Putting her bed against the far wall seemed like the best option, so he could put her dresser against the wall nearest her closet, but something about it didn’t seem quite right.

He shook his head and decided to just figure it out later.

Not too long after that, Hunk came up, Lance and Alfie in tow, and the three men set to removing the door. Alfie, wanting to help but being told firmly not to mess with the drill, instead began offering commentary about where they should put the door once it was off. “There’s lots of space downstairs,” He said in a sing-song voice.

“We can just prop it up in the hallway, buddy,” Hunk laughed, carefully hefting the door up and aside once it was free. He tilted it against the wall across from the room, next to the doorframe of the bathroom, and rummaged through his pocket for the remaining parts of the door. He then set the hinges, screws and drill beside the base of it on the floor. Alfie sported a small pout, clearly offended that his suggestion wasn’t implemented.

“Hey, now, this is a no-pout zone! We don’t like frowny faces in these parts!” Hunk proclaimed, scooping the small tot up and holding above his head. Alfie’s shirt was up a bit and, seizing the opportunity, leaned forward to press loud raspberries to the boy’s exposed tummy.

Alfie squealed and squirmed, though his attempts were only half-hearted. “Uncle Hunk, stop!” He proclaimed, laughing so hard he was actually snorting as the older man shifted from raspberries to just outright tickling him.

Keith chuckled a bit as he watched, Lance looking amused as well, before shifting to side-eye the darker haired man. He perked up, noticing those bright blue eyes fixed on him, and looked at him inquisitively. The other only offered a smug grin, shrugged, then headed into Emily’s room. “So you said purple for the walls, yeah?” He clarified.

He nodded and headed in, kneeling down and pulling his pocketknife from the pocket of his jeans. He popped the can on the purple paint. “Yeah. I figure we can do the walls first, then while that’s drying her can hit the apartment and gather the boxes. When we get back, we can see how the walls are looking and determine if they need another coat. Then, if they don’t, we can do the trim and polka-dots in here,” He said.

Hunk walked in, carrying a still giggling Alfor under one arm, and hummed thoughtfully. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to get all the painting done before we start bringing anything over?” He pointed out. Keith turned his attention to him as Lance poured some of the paint into one of the trays. “I mean, feel free to tell me if I’m wrong or something, but Allura mentioned that you still have a little bit of packing to do, right? So, what we could do is get the painting done, then all head to the apartment, help you finish packing, then just bring everything over one fell swoop.”

“Wouldn’t we just clutter up the front room with their stuff if we did that?” Lance pointed out.

“Yeah, it’ll be all cluttered!” Alfie chirped quickly.

The other laughed, bronze eyes gleaming with mirth. “Not necessarily, buddy,” He said, directing his words to the child as he set him down. “I think you misunderstood what I meant. See, my thought is this; paint Emily’s walls first, since we’re all set up in here. While they’re drying, we can go paint the walls in Keith’s room. By the time that’s done, the walls in here should have dried. If they need another coat of paint, we apply another coat, then go paint the trim in Keith’s room. We should have enough time, at that point, to take a break for lunch while the walls in here finish drying – assuming we need the second coat, of course – and then, after we finish eating, they should be dry. I doubt we’ll need a third coat, so we should be able to do the trim and polka-dots. While that finishes drying, we can go finish packing up your old place and move everything over. Then, it’s just a matter of putting everything in their proper places and boom! We’re done!” He explained.

Lance stared at Hunk in surprise then smirked over at Keith. “I told you that he would be a huge help,” He preened as if the suggestion was his own.

Keith rolled his eyes at Lance, who was grinning as Alfie sang his Daddy’s praises for inviting Hunk along. “That’s a way better plan than I had in mind. Thanks for the input,” He said, hoping he sounded genuine in his words.

Hunk seemed to flush a bit at this, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly again. Must be a tick of his, Keith reasoned. “Well, I’ve done stuff like this pretty often, so I have a good idea about how much time stuff like this takes. I have plenty of cousins that I helped prepare rooms for when they were babies, moving houses or just needed updated themes as they’ve gotten older,”

“Big family?” He asked as he opened one of the roller packages, watching Lance in his peripheral as he opened a paintbrush and offered it to Alfor.

“I’ve never thought it was that big, but I guess to some people it is? I have an older brother – and he’s got three kids of his own -, a set of twin younger sisters, my Ma and my Pa. But I have a pretty extensive extended family that I’m close to, too, which is weird, apparently,” He laughed as he prepared the other roller for himself.

“Oh, so you’re the middle child?”

“Yeah, but it never really felt like it. It’s kinda weird because there’s such a wide age gap between me and my siblings. My brother is nearly six years older than me, and I’m about just as much older than the girls. We’re still family and we get along well, but I sometimes think we aren’t as close as kids with smaller age gaps. Like, I’ve seen Lance with his siblings, and the biggest age gap there is three years, and it’s a huge difference. I will admit, though, that I’m probably closer to Nia and Mia than Archie,”

“Wait, they’re a set of twins named Nia and Mia?”

“Don’t you judge, pal. I’ll have you know that stupid matching twin names have been a thing, and will continue to be a thing, until well after we’re dead and gone,” Hunk teased.

Krolia and Allura joined them not too long after that, the entirety of the small crew getting to work. As they did, casual conversation flowed pretty steadily. Hunk had a lot of hilarious stories to share, explaining that he grew up in the mountain town about two hours out from the city, where his parents ran a little ranch and veterinary clinic. His mom was the veterinarian while his father had been a welder with mechanics as a hobby, which he passed on to his young son and led to Hunk’s decision to open his own business. Dips in conversation were easily picked back up without things feeling forced, with Keith sharing a bit about his own childhood, regaling an intrigued Hunk with the tales of all the different locales he and Krolia had moved to over the years.

They had just moved over to start working on painting Keith’s room when Coran called, apologizing profusely that he slept for so long and promising to be there shortly to collect Alfor. They were just starting to pour the red paint into a tray when Coran called to say he was out front. “I’ll be right back. Come on, buster, time for you to go hang out with Uncle Coran,” Lance said.

“But you and Mommy are still here! I wanna stay with you!” He protested.

“Alfor, darling,” Allura said gently, kneeling down to tuck a loose strand of hair behind his ear, “we won’t be gone too terribly long, I promise. We’re going to be doing some really big lifting soon and I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“But I wanna help,” He said with a little sniffle, looking at her with pleading eyes and his lower lip jutting out.

Her gaze softened even more and she leaned forward to press a quick kiss to his forehead. “I know you do, but I know that Grandpa Coran was looking forward to spending some time with you. He had plans for you two to go to the zoo and-!”

That was all it took for the small child to go rushing to Lance, grabbing his hand and yanking insistently.  
“Come on, Daddy! I wanna go to the zoo with Grandpa Coran!” He proclaimed eagerly.

Allura blinked once before shaking her head and standing back up as her boys disappeared down the stairs. “Sometimes I worry with how quickly that boy can be distracted,” She said, but her tone and smile were both affectionate.

“He’s an excitable kid. Nothing wrong with that,” Hunk chimed in.

“Which reminds me; what’s this about letting him take a joy ride in your beloved truck someday?” She asked, turning and heading to grab a freshly cleaned paintbrush and dipping it into the tray.

“Oh, you don’t get to try and make me into the bad guy here, Lura,” Hunk said, putting on a somber expression. Keith and Krolia exchanged glances before turning their attention back to the pair, neither of them paying full attention as they started applying paint to the walls. “I am betrayed. Hurt. Wounded, even.”

“Because I’m pointing out that you’ll never feasibly let my son drive your truck?” She asked with a small laugh and raised eyebrow.

“Actually, he said if he has the truck, he will,” Keith chimed in, “for one whole minute. Even told Lance he wouldn’t skimp him out on the whole 60 seconds, either.”

Hunk nodded in a manner that could only be described as sagely.

“Okay, then how have I wounded you so?”

“You revealed to Lance that I’d never let him drive my truck. I thought we were friends, and you betrayed my trust. I had to lie to him, Allura! Do you know how difficult that was?” He answered, laying the faux-dramatics on thick. He even did the scandalized hand-to-forehead gesture.

Keith actually laughed and heard his mother let out an amused chuckle as well.

Allura rolled her eyes. “You also could have just told him the truth,” She pointed out, walking over and beginning to make steady sweeps along the walls with her paintbrush.

“That is a lie and you know it,” Hunk pointed out, carefully dipping his roller into the tray and getting it thoroughly coated. “I lived with him in an apartment for two years. I love the guy, but I learned quickly there were some things you just didn’t make him aware of, for your own sanity.”

“Oh, this I gotta hear. Please, do tell us about everything about what that 24 months of your life was like,” He encouraged.

“What 24 months of his life?” Lance asked as he came wandering back into the room.

“Apparently you two were roommates,” Krolia prompted, an amused smile turned up on her lips.

The other blinked then scowled, glaring at his friend. “Did you tell them about the time I broke the plunger in the toilet trying to unclog it and then hid in my room while you called maintenance to fix it?”

Laughter erupted at that and Hunk shook his head, not even bothering to hold back his own laughter. “Oh, man! I almost forgot about that! You were _so_ embarrassed!” He guffawed.

The other stared for a moment, his mouth open as if he’d been preparing to say something in response, then paused and clamped it shut. He then shifted and started going for his phone in his back pocket. “Hey, how would you guys like to see a video of Hunk drunkenly serenading a baby Nebbie with Michael Buble’s cover of _L.O.V.E._?” He asked.

“What the _heck_ , dude? _You’re_ the one who embarrassed himself! I hadn’t said anything outside of how we lived together! You don’t get to just decide that you’re gonna humiliate me as revenge for something I didn’t do!” Hunk sputtered, reaching frantically to swipe the phone from him.

A small struggle came between the pair, but was quickly ended by Allura plucking the phone from her boyfriend’s hand and pinning them both with a look. “You two can show off embarrassing video and pictures of each other once we’re all done, understood? We’re here to help out,” She chided, calmly tucking Lance’s phone into her back pocket.

“Aw, but babe!” Lance whined, trying to wrap an arm around her waist.

“Don’t ‘babe’ me,” She said, lightly poking him in the chest, voice free of malice but still firm. “I’ll give your phone back once we get the painting in here done.” He tipped his head back and let out a small whine. “Oh, hush. Your whining tendency is starting to rub off on Alfie.” She leaned forward to give his chin a quick peck before slipping out of his arm and heading back over to the painting supplies.

“Excuse me, but,” He harrumphed as he followed her, “I wasn’t whining; I was groaning. Sometimes a man groans when he’s disappointed, and that’s just part of life.”

“Except when it’s whining. Which it totally was,” Keith chimed in, ever the helper. He smirked at the scalding look the other flashed him and snorts he heard come from Hunk, who was taking a roller a wall.

“Rude. Here I am, spending time to help you move! And this is how you repay my kindness?” He retorted, all dramatic, as he pressed a hand to his chest, as if wounded.

Keith shrugged. “Hey, you offered. I never promised you anything in exchange for the free labor,” He pointed out.

“He has you there, buddy,” Hunk laughed as he continued his work with the roller. Keith knelt down and grabbed one of the brushes and dipped it into the red paint. “Oh, by the way, did you get that stuff with Alfie’s gymnastics meet figured out?”

Amicable conversation resumed, though this time it centered more around the kids. As it turned out, Hunk was the second most frequent baby-sitter for little Alfie when Allura and Lance went out on their bi-weekly date nights. While the distance to get to the small mountain town where his family lived wasn’t far, Hunk did admit to not being able to go up and visit as often as he may like, so it was nice getting to spend time with Alfie. Reminded him of his brother’s kids and cousins and helped ease some of the homesickness.

His restricted visitations were due to how he’d only opened up Love Machine Auto-Repair a little over a year ago and wanted to be as involved in its blossoming reputation as possible. The business was something that he’d always dreamed of in his younger years and he wanted to make sure it succeeded. “Only way I could be happier with the shop,” Hunk mused as he stepped back to examine the perfectly painted red wall before him, “would be if I could attach a restaurant to it, too. But the building already needed some repair work when I bought it, and having to put in for the additional work it’d need to facilitate the addition was way out of my budget. But, hey, maybe someday I’ll be able to.”

Keith nodded as he dipped his paintbrush back into the tray and headed back over to the wall he was working on. “You like to cook?”

“Oh, yeah! I double-majored in business and automotive technology training, with a minor in culinary,” He said as he got fresh paint on the roller. He then headed over to help Keith finish up with the wall he was working on. He started up painting before side-eying Keith. “What about you?”

“Oh, right now I’m going to school when I can,”

“What degree plan?”

“When I first started applying to colleges and started attending, I was going for a degree in engineering. Wanted to be an astronaut,” He said with a small laugh, shaking his head at his own prior aspirations. It was strange to think back to what and who he wanted to be five years ago compared with where he was in that moment. “But then, after Emily was born, I started to waffle and think that maybe I should go for something that would keep me grounded. After Sadie was… lost, to put it lightly, I really had to stop and reevaluate what it was I wanted. I was the only parent Emi had left and I wanted to be as involved as possible. So, I talked with an adviser on campus and started looking into different programs, and decided to go for forensics science, so I can work as a crime scene investigator.”

Hunk whistled and looked at him in awe. “Oh, dude, that’s so cool! I don’t have the stomach for that kind of stuff but it’s always so interesting to watch programs that talk about it!”

“That’s part of what helped me decide. The other deciding fact was a piece of advice my Mom gave me,” He said, tilting his head back and offering her a smile.

Krolia perked up and looked at him, having taken a second to glance as her phone, brow knitting in confusion. “What was it I said that stuck with you?”

“You said – and I quote – ‘There are a few fields that are always good to go into; financial, medical, and legal. They’re always in demand, regardless the economic state. People are always dumb with their money, people are always getting sick, and people are always looking to sue or kill each other. There’ll always be an opening in one of those fields!’” Keith took the time to clear his throat before starting up on the quote, trying to pitch his voice up high enough to do a good imitation of her.

She blinked, then hummed and nodded. “Yeah, sounds like something I’d say. Practical advice, too, so Bonus Mom Points there,”

Hunk laughed at the brief exchange. “Hey, you know what? She has a point there! You’ve earned all those bonus points!”

She dipped her head and offered a small laugh. “Why, thank you,”

Shortly after that, a quick check of the paint in Emily’s room showed that the purple was bold enough to not need a second coat. Getting the trim and polka-dots done was a fast task, and then it was another quick task of taking care of the trim in Keith’s room. With that done, they decided to head out to get Keith’s things. “Lance and I can go along in our car, since it’s got plenty of room for the boxes. You can ride with Hunk in his truck so you can give him directions and let him use your parking space, since it’ll be closer to the apartment and make getting things down easier,” Allura suggested.

“Is it okay if Mom rides with you, then?” He asked her.

“Oh,” Krolia said, precariously balancing one of the trays and a few of the paintbrushes, “I was planning to stay here and start doing some clean up. I figure cleaning as we go will make things easier in the long run.” Her expression softened when she saw the slight surprise on Keith’s face. “Or, just let me get these soaking so they aren’t just sitting.”

“No, it’s okay,” He said quickly. He offered her a smile that he hoped was reassuring. “You’re right about cleaning up as we go. Plus, once you’re done with that, you can take a little break. Let me know if you’re hungry or anything while we’re out. Maybe we can grab some cheap eats on the way back.”

“Sounds good. Be safe and let me know if you need me, okay?”

“Will do,”

“Love you,”

“Love you, too,”

“Daw! Keef loves his Mommy~!”

“Hey, be cool, dude! Any respectable man loves his Mommy!” Hunk chided as he followed Lance out the door.

Allura chuckled a bit. “You’re not one to talk, sweetheart. You’re the definition of a Momma’s Boy,”

“Excuse me, but when you have the best Mom in the world? Hard not to be,” He retorted.

Hunk rolled his eyes and shook his head, waiting in the doorway for Keith to catch up with them. “Hope you don’t mind having to stick with me for the sake of directions,” Hunk mused lightly as he stepped out the doorway towards the two stairs at the start of the small path to the sidewalk.

Keith shut the door carefully and shook his head. “Considering you’re already doing me a huge favor by helping out? The least I can do is serve as navigator to my apartment,” He mused as he let Hunk lead him to the truck. They waved to Allura and Lance, who were already sliding into the seats of their Honda Pilot, and then Keith headed over to the passenger side. He was surprised to see that the interior upholstery looked damn-near impeccable, as if the car had never been driven before. “Oh, wow.”

His awed tone seemed to spark pride in Hunk as he slipped behind the wheel, a smug and satisfied smirk turning up on his lips. “Pretty great, right? The seats were what took the longest to get in when I was rebuilding this beauty,” He said, shutting the door and fishing an iPod from his back pocket.

“Wait, you rebuilt the interior too?” He gaped.

“Yup! The inside wasn’t as rough as I was expecting, admittedly, but the seats were pretty tattered and had this weird smell that cleaning just wasn’t getting rid of,” He laughed, fiddling with the iPod for a second before offering it to Keith. “I may have also found a way to wire this baby with a Bluetooth speaker. Took a bit of work, but was well worth it. And, since I’m a responsible driver and your name isn’t Lance, I’m gonna leave you in charge of the tunes. Hopefully I have something on here that you like.”

Keith blinked then laughed. “You banned Lance from choosing the music?”

“One time, I let him have full reign of the music selection while we drove down to Florida during summer break. He played the Shrek soundtrack _no less_ than _thirty times_ in that drive,” He deadpanned, expression the picture of horror.

Keith laughed and set to finding something he knew. “Gonna be honest with you; I don’t really listen to a lot of grown-up music anymore. A solid 95 percent of what I listen to is Disney soundtracks,”

“Hey, if you need a hit of that, I have plenty of that on there,” Hunk said, shifting the truck into drive and waiting as Allura backed out and turned on to the street.

Keith ended up being pleasantly surprised when he saw Weezer under the list of artists, eagerly checking which albums the other had downloaded. He clicked on _Buddy Holly_ without a second thought. “I haven’t listened to them in forever,” He said with a small laugh.

“Oh, man, Weezer is awesome! I got to see them in concert for my eighteenth birthday!” He said eagerly.

“Are you seriously?”

“Yup! It was a gift from my Aunt and Uncle! Said I needed a little detox with all the AP classes I was taking my senior year!”

He hummed lightly in agreement. Most of his senior year had been spent handing out with Sadie and the other two or three kids in their little clique, kids who he hadn’t spoken or heard from in years, and the pressures of figuring out how they’d manage being parents at such young ages. Sadie had been a bit of a workaholic that year, determined to keep her grades up despite how exhausted she was from being pregnant and the stress of dealing with her parents constantly breathing down her neck. Keith, whom was in most of the same classes as her, had done what he could where he could to help her, but sometimes she was too stubborn to accept his help. She kept the pregnancy hidden up until they actually graduated, just like she’d been planning, and when she realized that she’d be giving birth in the very early weeks of August, she’d been thrilled. It meant that she’d still be able to enroll in classes at the community college in the city they were moving. That, paired with being away from her parents, seemed to help lower some of her stress during her last few months of pregnancy.

He thought about saying as much, but instead shook the thought away, not wanting to burden a stranger with his musings about the past; how comfortable the stranger made him feel, regardless. Instead, the two of them ended up dueting whichever Weezer song Keith picked next, between directions to the apartment. When they arrived, Hunk backed into the spot, so the bed of his truck was closest to the curb.

They decided to start with finishing what little packing there was to do, then bring out all the boxes to Allura’s car, then bring the big furniture out. Hunk grabbed a small toolbox from the bed of his truck, insisting it’d be good to have just in case, as well as the dolly. Between the four sets of hands and the dolly, they got the rest of the apartment packed up in less than an hour. Then, it only took a few short trips to take all the boxes down. Keith himself didn’t have an excessive amount of personal effects, and even for the necessities he had the bare bones of what he’d need. He’d never needed a big kitchen set to use, so he had bought most of his kitchen wares at an estate sale not too long after he and Sadie had first moved, back before Emily born.

Since they’d been on a budget regarding everything, and didn’t really have guests, they hadn’t really gotten much. After Sadie was gone, he hadn’t seen much of a point in getting anything else either, since there was sadly one less mouth and one less source of income. He had, admittedly, ended up splurging on the occasional cute little kid dish for Emily, since having things designated just for her always made her smile.

He was able to get his kitchen, bathroom, and linens packed into one moderately-sized box each, and he’d ended up needing a third box for Emily’s books for her room. While he and Allura loaded the boxes of things from Emily’s room into her car, Hunk and Lance started to get her bed ready to be moved. Between the dolly and Keith carrying two boxes in his arms, they took her things down in one trip. When they headed back up, Hunk had neatly folded Emi’s bedding and placed it in a leftover box, not wanting it to get dirty. Keith had to pause and thank him for his consideration, genuinely touched by the thoughtfulness. Lance and Allura carried the mattress for Emi’s bed down while Hunk and Keith took down the box spring.

Next came Emily’s bookcase, which was a small and stout little thing with two rows. At present, she only had enough room for one row to be full of books, but she never seemed to grow tired of the selection. Lastly was her dresser, more on the tall and narrow side of things, which was an easy move with the use of the dolly. Before they took it outside, Hunk produced a long bungee cord with hooks from his tool kit, securing the strap to the back and bottom of the dolly to keep the shelves from popping out as they pushed it along. Hunk cupped his chin and tilted his head, looking from the dresser to the bed of the truck once they got downstairs. “If we lay it down flat, we won’t have enough room for the futon and Keith’s dresser,” Allura pointed out.

“We could make a second trip,” Lance suggested.

“But we already have everything except those items packed up! And there’s still a decent amount of room in the bed of the truck,” Allura sighed.

Keith perked up. “You still have room in the Pilot?” He asked, turning to look at the other two.

“Not enough for anything furniture-sized,”

“What about the futon mattress alone? If we folded that over in half, like how it sits when it’s pulled up into couch mode, would it work?” He asked.

Allura and Lance exchanged glances before heading over, popping the trunk and checking. “Right now, no. But we could collapse the back row of seats, push the boxes forward more, and maybe have room for the futon mattress by itself then,” He commented, already moving over to get started on the task.

Keith nodded then looked back over to Hunk, where he was already carefully hoisting the dresser up into the bed of the truck. Keith darted over and grabbed the bottom of it to help him finish hoisting it up, despite how Hunk seemed to be managing surprisingly well on his own. “Thanks,” Hunk said with a huff of a laugh before hopping up into the bed and carefully turning the dresser. He was able to easily slide it into the corner between where the door at the end of the bed latched into place and the pieces of the bed. Hunk then carefully poised the bookcase back upright as well, moving it to the other side of the truck and allowing the small back window to be left visible. Hunk carefully hopped over the side of the truck, landing with a small huff, and stepped around to stand beside Keith. He had a small grin on his lips as he indicated the slightly larger space the adjustments had left in the truck bed. “I figure we can use your dresser to help keep her bed and dresser in place, since yours is bigger and will be less likely to move around. I also think that the bookcase should be fine where it is, since it’ll have the remaining furniture to help keep it secured, but I also have some straps behind the booths in the cab, if we need to use them for additional security,” He explained.

“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Keith mused, looking over at Hunk with a small smile.

He was offered a bashful grin at the light praise, dark eyes bright in delight. “I try. In regards to the frame of your futon, since it’s metal, it’ll be easier to take apart and put back together once we get it back to your place,”

Keith nodded again before they headed up and set to the task. Once the futon was taken apart, they were able to take down the dresser, kitchen table and four chairs. The kitchen table was actually just a collapsible plastic banquet, so it was an easy more and wouldn’t take up much space. He paused as he noticed the little strip of tape along the far wall, just past where the table once sat, pressed against the walling right at the edge of the small hallway. The tape had been a manila color once upon a time, back when they first moved in, but now it had faded to an off-shot of yellow. All along it, etched in alternating black, silver and red Sharpie, were little dash marks with Emily’s name and age beside them. The apartment hadn’t liked the idea of him actually marking up the walls to mark the progress of his daughter’s growth, so the tape had been the most practical solution he’d been able to come up with.

He didn’t need to think twice before he carefully pulled the tape off and carefully tucked it away to go with him. He didn’t want to lose something as important as the tape.

It took an extra bit of time but they managed to get everything in the apartment into either of the vehicles. After that, Keith went through and quickly vacuumed all the rooms, then stood back and stared into the vacant apartment, the low breath he released echoing back at him. It felt strange, to stare in and see it as empty as it had been the day they’d moved in. It felt like an eternity had passed since then, he realized, and the deep breath he took in at the thought left a bittersweet taste on the back of his tongue. This had been home to he and Emily for so very long that the idea of not coming back here at the end of the day felt a bit uncomfortable.

But, he had to remind himself to push away the prickling of discomfort, things were going to be better now. Without having to stress about paying rent, he wouldn’t have to take all the overtime offered that he could. He would be able to better divide his time between work, school, and carve a much bigger time for Emily. He wanted to be able to give her as much of his time and attention as he possibly could. He wanted to be the kind of father that she deserved, the kind that she could look up to and talk to about everything and anything she ever wanted to. He had that kind of relationship with his Mom and, before his untimely passing, he’d had a bond like that with his own father. He wanted to have that kind of relationship with Emily, to be that lasting source of comfort and support for her, too.

With one last sweeping glance around the empty space, he pushed the vacuum out and shut the door. He returned the keys at the front desk, said a final farewell to the renting agents in the leasing office, and then headed out to join the others out front. There was enough room for the vacuum in the Pilot so, after stuffing it in, he and Hunk went to get some pizzas while Allura and Lance went to get some sodas, since it’d be cheaper to get those elsewhere than get slapped with the extra charge at the pizzeria. Pizza, Keith figured, was typically pretty good at feeding a group at reasonable prices. Besides, he actually liked pizza, despite how infrequently he actually got to have it.

When they pulled back up to the house, Keith was surprised to see a familiar black vehicle parked along the side of the street, the owners of the vehicle chatting animatedly with Krolia. He briefly wondered how many more surprises the day would have in store for him in the handful of remaining hours. “Huh… I thought Shiro and Matt said they had an appointment and couldn’t help out,” He mumbled to himself.

Hunk hummed. “Maybe they finished up early and wanted to help out?” He suggested.

“Maybe,” He said as the truck came to a quiet halt. He slipped out and approached the trio chatting, waving back when Shiro halted the conversation to wave at him. “Hey, guys. Wasn’t expecting to see you in this neck of the woods.”

“Well,” Matt drawled with a cheeky grin, reaching over to loudly slap a hand against the trunk of their car, “we had a little something-something we needed to bring over for you.”

Keith answered by only cocking his head, not sure what he meant. Shiro rolled his eyes. “Krolia asked us to help her get something down here for you and Emily,” He elaborated before clicking a button on the little remote clicker for their car, a small thunk noise echoing from the trunk as it popped.  Then, with a dramatic flourish, Matt tossed the trunk upwards and gestured to the two brand new bed sets laid out along the back of their minivan. They’d had to collapse the back row of seating in their minivan, and the box springs were actually propped up on their sides while the mattresses laid flat, but they’d gotten them there.

His eyes widened before he turned to stare at his mother in shock. She regarded him calmly, though her lips had turned up into a small smile at the surprise on his face. “Look, I know you’ve been insisting that you’ll take care of everything for yourself and Emily, that it’s your responsibility as her father, and I respect that… To a point. You aren’t going to get full rest on that worn out futon mattress, and that bothers me. You’re still my baby boy just as much as Emily is your baby girl. You two are my only blood relatives left, so if I want to spoil you two? I think I’ve earned the right. And if it bothers you, just consider is a house-warming gift,” She explained, her expression growing fonder as she spoke.

He didn’t think twice before moving closer and embracing her. “Thank you,” He mumbled softly, letting his eyes close a bit when she held him back. Keith had been starting to worry about the sleeping situation as they’d loaded Emily’s bed into the car. While he’d appreciated how Hunk hadn’t commented on how the box spring was starting to crack with age, or how some of the bed frame was starting to fade from black to a crusty orange, it hadn’t kept him from silently berating himself about it. The mattress was the same one he and Sadie had gotten – brand new back then - when Emily was a baby, from her crib, but eventually the time came that she needed a big girl bed. And, at that time, he hadn’t had the extra funds to spend on getting her something brand new. While the one he’d gotten her had been in decent shape when he bought it, the year and a half of use it had gotten from his daughter was evident.

He had been planning to get her a new box spring and frame in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, he had figured he’d just continue using the futon for himself until it got too busted and old to.

When they pulled back from the embrace, Krolia gently cupped one of his cheeks, fixing her for a second with an affection smile before they stepped apart. “Now, let’s get inside and eat. After we’ve had a break, we can start unloading everything and get things settled,” She said.

He nodded and turned to observe as Hunk headed up towards the front door with Matt, whom had apparently seen him toting the pizza boxes and decided to mooch. He pinned Shiro with a look when Matt opened the door and casually let he and Hunk in, as if the two of them were the actual homeowners. He was answered with a simple shrug as Shiro peered over him and waved to Allura and Lance as they pulled up.

Over lunch, Keith learned that Matt and Hunk actually knew one another through Matt’s sister, Katie. Hunk had apparently been working in the lab next to Katie’s on campus during her freshmen year/ his senior year of college and helped keep an eye out for her, the two forming a strange friendship. Hunk and Matt had met proper through a big group get-together for laser tag. While they all ate, they swapped entertaining stories about things that had happened during their high school and college days.

Keith felt a bit lost, compared to the rest of them. He told them about the time that he’d hijacked the security guard’s golf cart and done donuts on the football field with it, which certainly got him a nice mix of laughter and applause, but there weren’t any other big stunts after that to share. His own wacky misadventures had ended not too long after the second semester of his senior year started up, when he found out that soon he was going to be responsible for a baby. He didn’t have the experience of living in the dorms or an apartment or a roommate like they did. He didn’t have the delights of going down to the little bar strip downtown when he first turned 21 and getting completely blitzed. When he couldn’t even afford to have a drink or two at home, he certainly couldn’t go doing the bar hopping that most college students would have. Then again, he didn’t really have the money or time to go out and do things in general, either.

Hopefully, though, soon enough he’d have a bit more time for socializing.

Once the pizza was gone, they got to work bringing everything inside. Most of Keith’s boxes, as well as the unnecessary pieces of furniture, went straight to the basement, to be safely stored until a later date. Krolia had a fully furnished house, with a kitchen with more than enough dishes; she certainly didn’t need his discount, mismatched cutlery cluttering up her drawers. The only items he pulled out were the little plates, cups and silverware pieces that he’d bought specifically for Emily. Once all the boxes and big items were moved to their proper locations, Allura and Lance had to head out to get Alfor to his gymnastics practice for the day.

He expected Hunk to head out as well, but instead he asked, “Is it cool if I stay and help you finish everything up?”

“Really?” Keith asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” Hunk laughed, seeming a bit worried at his shock.

“You… I mean, if you’re sure you want to, you can. I don’t mean it in a bad way, though. I just mean… Well… Wouldn’t you rather go home and enjoy the rest of your day off?”

“Well, I figure you mentioned you had some homework to finish up. If we power through putting the big furniture in its places and unpacking the boxes, you’ll have more time to relax and get that done. More hands on deck to help out means it gets done fast,” He explained.

“I… Thank you,” He said quietly, unsure of how else to respond.

Hunk merely grinned wider before letting Keith lead him back upstairs. They started in Emily’s room at Keith’s insistence. Keith directed Hunk and Shiro where to put the dresser and bookcase while Krolia and Matt worked on hanging her clothes in the closet and then, while Shiro, Keith and Hunk worked on putting her new bedframe together, set to unpacking the items for her shelves. Inside her closet were a few built-in shelves, where they carefully tucked her toys away. Keith made a mental note that he needed to get her a proper toy box at some point in the future. He beamed at the room once everything was set up, beaming in pride over how nice everything was arranged.

After her room was set up, they took care of Keith’s room. He tried to insist that he only needed help with getting his dresser placed and his bed put together, but Shiro refused to let him turn them away. It didn’t take them long to have everything properly put away, the boxes ready to be flattened and tossed in the recycling. Krolia had a spare set of sheets he could use for the brand new king sized mattress sitting pretty in his room, at least until he was ready to pick out a full set of his own.

After that was all taken care of, the topic of dinner came up. Matt offered to treat this time around for some Chinese takeout, calling the order in as Hunk moved to excuse himself.

“You’ve been helping all day; the least we can offer you is dinner,” Keith pointed out evenly.

“You were already nice enough to get me breakfast and lunch, and I’d hate to impose,” Hunk argued, holding one hand up in a polite declining gesture.

“And you were nice enough to spend your whole day helping us out. Please, let us at least feed you for all your hard work,”

He laughed a bit. “Aw, I told you it was my pleasure to help out. You really don’t need to repay me for it,” He said, then perked up. He stopped to rummage through his pockets to produce his phone, offering it to Keith. “But, before I forget, I need to get your number so I can text you those pictures later.”

“Oh, right,” Keith said, quickly typing in his information. He handed the phone back and then glanced outside, where the sun had disappeared and night was starting to fully take over. “And, shoot me a text letting me know when you get home safe. I know that people can get a little crazy with their driving on Saturday night.”

The other grinned and nodded. “Let’s you save my number, too. I’ll text you with updates on the next project I start up on, if you want. Or, like, if you ever just want someone to talk to, feel free to hit me up, too,” He offered.

“Oh yeah?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, you seem like a really cool guy and I’d like to get to know you better. I mean… Well… I-If you wanted to get to know each other, I mean! If not, that’s totally cool, too!” He stammered out, cheeks darkening a bit and his darting everywhere but at Keith as he spoke.

His implication clicked and a blush dusted along Keith’s cheeks, too. It’d been a while since he’d been the one on the pursued end of things, after all. And, as he stared at Hunk for a moment, he couldn’t help but be a little dubious. The guy was an attractive, thoughtful, kind-hearted and successful business owner. A guy like that couldn’t be seriously interested in a single parent living with his Mom and struggling his way through college. “A-Are you sure? I mean… I have a kid,” He said, trying not to wince as he remembered how the handful of dates he’d been one way back when he first moved to town went.

Something about that seemed to catch Hunk off guard, but also seemed to strengthen his resolve, oddly enough. His jaw locked and he held Keith’s eye when he glanced back up at him, expression set with what could only be labelled as determination. “I’m aware and that doesn’t bother me at all. I’m not saying that we have to be, like, together, if you aren’t interested. But, you seem like a great guy and I’d like to at least get to know you a little better. Maybe see if we click and take things from there, if we’re on the same page. Slowly, of course. And if we don’t click that way, maybe we could at least still be friends,” He explained.

Keith released a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding and smiled a bit. “I’d like that. Taking it slow and seeing if we become something more, I mean,” He agreed. And then, just because he realized that he hadn’t really said, he added, “And I’d be interested in starting out as friends and seeing if this goes down that path. A, uh, romantic path, I mean.” He couldn’t help the odd, twisting sensation in his stomach. It wasn’t a bold declaration of love, but it was kind of nice having someone outright say they thought he would be fun to hang out with and maybe date. He hadn’t heard anything like that in an awfully long time.

Hunk’s smile in response to that was nearly blinding and he nodded. “Perfect. So, when I get home, send the pictures of the motorcycle?” He asked.

Keith nodded. “And to let me know you made it back to your place safe,”

Hunk offered him a little salute before letting Keith walk him out. He waved and waited until his truck was disappearing down the road to shut the door. When he turned around, Shiro was leaning in the doorway to the kitchen with a small grin on his face. “What?” Keith huffed out, sounding way too defensive.

“Nothing,” Shiro mused. He pushed off the doorway as Keith approached, aiming to help with getting the table set. “Hunk’s a really great guy, by the way. I approve.”

Keith sputtered, cheeks going cherry red. “I-That- Just come help us get ready for dinner!” He squawked, the flush rising to his ears at the laughter following his reaction.

While they ate, Shiro and Matt chatted a bit about the meeting with their potential surrogate that afternoon. She had been nice enough, but then she’d whipped out a pack of smokes halfway through. When they asked her if she would quit smoking while pregnant, she’d given them both an unamused look.

“She looks me dead in the eye,” Shiro said, his usual calm bravado dropped into something of genuine frustration and insult, “and said, ‘Well, it’s my body, my choice. If I have a shit day at work and I need to light up to calm back down, you can bet I will.’ Can you believe that? Does she not care about all the awful side effects that smoking can have on a baby? Or does she just not care since she wouldn’t be the one dealing with the child after its born?”

Matt had an amused grin on his lips, cupping the side of his face in one hand. “Yeah, needless to say, I thought she and Shiro were about to have a huge cat fight right there in the restaurant. Would have been entertaining to me, but I don’t think the other patrons would have appreciated it much,” He then pushed upright to toss a chopstick full of rice into his mouth.

“I wouldn’t have fought her in the restaurant,” Shiro scoffed, taking a sip of his drink. He then set the glass back down. “That’s the restaurant we went to the night you proposed. I wouldn’t get us thrown out of there over some woman who thinks smoking while pregnant is acceptable.”

Keith chuckled. “I couldn’t see you getting into a fight with anyone in any restaurant, regardless of the circumstances. You’re more the I’m-Going-To-Use-My-Authoritative-Tone-With-You-So-You-Shush-And-Then-Talk-Mad-Shit-When-You’re-Gone type,” He pointed out.

“That’s a true point, normally,” Matt agreed, pointing his chopsticks at him, “but Shiro was pretty damn pissed.”

“Well, we specifically said we wanted to work with non-smoking surrogates! So, honestly, I’m a little miffed that Gale even suggested we meet up with the girl in the first place!” He huffed.

“She could have lied on her application form, out of want for the free ride for several months,” Krolia pointed out.

“Well then that’d make her a liar. Which is another red flag for a surrogate,” He huffed.

“So what’s your next move, then?” Keith asked as he took a sip from his own water.

“Well, we need to let Gale know that was a no-go, and see from there. We should still have another surrogate that was willing to meet with us, so fingers crossed,” Shiro said with a shrug, trying to play it cool. Keith didn’t miss how Matt reached and settled his hand over his husband’s, though, and set to gently stroking the top.

Back when Keith first moved back to town, they’d been excitedly telling him about how they were looking into adopting a child. They tried for two full years, but they’d encountered issues with a lot of the adoptive parents due to their relationship. It had been a struggle for the two of them, constantly getting built up over the idea of having a baby to take home, only to have the adoptive parents turn them away because they were a same sex couple.

He knew that for Shiro, who had always wanted a family, it was especially hard. The struggles they encountered with adopting were what pushed Matt into suggesting they go the surrogate route.

After that, they shifted to talking more about the accident and complete lunacy of the Wickerton’s in blaming Keith. As he was moving to clear the table, his phone chimed lightly with a message from an unknown number. When he checked, inside was a picture of Hunk, the large grey figure of Nebula draped along his shoulders and head-butting against his cheek, and the text, “I home,” underneath.

He chuckled a bit and quickly texted back to say, “I’m glad. Now eat something, since I bet you’re hungry after all the lifting we did today.”

After that, he took care of the dishes and shortly after Shiro and Matt headed out, promising they’d come by for another visit next week so they could visit with Emily, too. He checked his phone again to see two more messages from Hunk; one a simple thumbs-up emoji, while the other was a picture of sleek, silver motorcycle that gleamed under a large hanging garage light. He added Hunk to his contacts, sent a reply of, “That bike looks brand new!” and then settled in to do his homework. He decided to work at the kitchen table, as his room lacked a desk and it felt more familiar. The background chatter of whatever his Mom was watching on the television in the other room also added a nice ambiance that helped him relax as he powered through the assignments.

Krolia popped in to give him a quick peck to the top of the head before she headed off to bed. He headed upstairs himself about thirty minutes later, after securing that his assignment was complete and ready for printing later. He headed upstairs, took a quick shower and then settled down into his bed, moaning to himself at the feel of a real, plush mattress under his work-aching body. He plugged his phone in to the charger and texted Hunk back. He was pleasantly surprised when he received a response pretty quick, having assumed the other would have gone to be much sooner.

He ended up passing out while swapping texts, talking about the process of how Hunk and his friend had gone about building the bike back up.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

As Keith pulled up to the Wickerton’s house, he felt reinvigorated. He was caught up on all his homework, his things were all moved over, and Emily’s room was all ready for her once they got home. Additionally, his day had been sprinkled with bits of conversation between he and Hunk about this or that, which had been nice. They’d chatted mostly about the motorcycle Hunk had rebuilt, and then shifted over to his next project at Keith’s prodding for an answer. He’d been sent a picture of a beaten-down, rusted-up old Ford Mustang that Hunk admitted he’d picked up from a junkyard for only 150 bucks. Keith insisted that he wanted to see progress photos each step of the way, which had seemed to delight Hunk.

Meanwhile, Hunk had insisted that Keith let him know how the grades for his completed assignments turned out. He also offered to help him if he needed it with his mathematics courses, too.

He knocked on the door and didn’t even have to force the smile on his face. It felt so good to have had conversations with an adult that didn’t revolve around moving, or finances, or the kids for once. He loved talking about Emily, but sometimes it was nice to chat about other things, too. To actually get to talk about some of his hobbies or his academics with someone he wasn’t related to by blood – and was genuinely interested in what he had to say, to boot! - was a breath of fresh air. He doubted that even the Wickerton’s, for as tedious as dealing with them could be, would be able to dampen his mood in the brief time he’d be around them.

Lydia was already scowling when she opened the door. “Keith,” She sneered.

Just looking at her and hearing her tone was enough to disprove his theory; just her saying his name was enough to suck all the joy out of him.

He, however, decided that he’d solider on, his smile remaining in place by simple force of will. “Hello, Mrs. Wickerton. How are you doing?” He asked, managing to squeeze a small amount of warmth into his tone.

“You weren’t supposed to be here for another hour,” She barked back, staying rooted to the doorframe.

“Actually, the agreement was that I pick her up on Sunday’s, no later than 4 o’clock. It’s currently,” He paused to pull out his phone, then grinned and tapped the screen to get her to look, “3:58. So I’m still falling in line with the agreed upon schedule. Unless there’s some kind of issue with us following the rules of the schedule we’ve had?”

“No, it’s just… Well, we need a bit more time,” She huffed lightly, glaring at him.

That caught him by surprise. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked, glaring a bit.

“We… May have forgotten about her spelling assignment. But she and Eli are almost done with it,” She said quickly.

He blinked then scowled. “Are you _serious_? If you two aren’t going to make sure her homework gets done when she’s here, I’m going to start bringing her by later. That, or picking her up earlier, so that she has more time to get these things done,”

“You’re making a mountain out of a molehill! We get so little time with her, we want to make sure as much of that time is fun as possible!”

“You know, I seem to remember you and Eli being very strict on Sadie about staying on top of her classwork. I’m trying to establish a routine for her; if all you’re going to do is hinder that, I’ll make things like this get taken care of before I leave her in your care at all,” He growled out.

The older woman flinched at the mention of her daughter, pressing a hand to her chest. Then, seeming to regain herself, she squared her shoulders and nodded. “Very well. Would making sure her homework gets done on Friday night before dinner be acceptable?”

“I do it that way at home with her during the week so that’d be perfect. Next time she comes to visit, I expect her assignments to be taken care of before I get here. If not, then we’re going to work out a new system so this problem doesn’t crop up again,” He said calmly.

Mrs. Wickerton nodded before opening the door wider and allowing him to step inside. “I’ll go finish getting her bag packed up. She and Eli are in the kitchen, if you’d like to join them,” And then, with a dismissive turn of her head, she headed down toward the nearby hallway and disappeared.

The Wickerton home had become familiar to him in the last ten months that they’d been talking to him again and seeking to form a bond with their granddaughter, but he’d still known it decently well from before, too. He would never tell the Wickerton’s the truth, simply for the sake of his own privacy, but any time the two were out for the night, he’d been snuck in by their daughter for movies and snacks and, once they started dating, snogging on the couch. The old liquor cabinet they’d busted into once or twice still stood in the far corner of the living room, as free of locks as it ever was.

Sadie Wickerton was a well-behaved and respectful girl, after all, and would _never_ have snuck a few shots-worth out for her and her boyfriend. _Never, ever_.

He slipped past the living room into the kitchen, smiling and kneeling as Emily charged out of her seat and rushed right for him. “Daddy!” She squealed, leaping into his arms eagerly.

He squeezed her lightly. “Hey there, baby doll. How was your weekend?” He mused, gently releasing her so she could look up at him properly.

“It was lots of fun! We had ice cream sundaes and we watched Zootopia!”

“That sounds like a lot of fun, sweetie,” He mused, carefully tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. He’d need to look into getting the soundtrack from that film added to the playlist he had set up just for Emily, it seemed. He led her back over to the kitchen table and was surprised to see that she only had one last word left on her assignment. “Why don’t you finish this up real fast, and then tell me all about it?”

“Mkay, Daddy!” She giggled, holding her arms up towards him so he could set her back in her seat. Once she was settled in, she tilted her head. “I know this word.” She mumbled thoughtfully.

He chuckled and nodded. “Yes, you do. Do you want some help or-?”

“I got this!” She insisted, picking her pencil back up and setting it to the paper.

“Stubborn as a mule, kids at this age,” Eli said with a small laugh, shaking his head. Where Lydia Wickerton was high-strung and defensive and openly judgmental, her husband was a bit of a different breed. He was judgmental, but he kept that to himself, choosing when to weaponize his opinions carefully. In that sense, he could be the more bearable of the two to talk with, since he seemed to let every minor social foo-pah slide by without the bat of his eye, but he’d drag it back up the minute you crossed him.

He was a different beast than his wife, but one just as exhausting to deal with, as far as Keith was concerned.

“She’s independent most of the time, but she knows when to ask for help. She’s smart like that,” He agreed gently.

“Well said,” The other man said, chuckling lightly. Keith spotted Emily’s backpack settled in the chair beside her and pulled out her folder to put the paper away once she was done writing out the word ‘plate’. “You know, Keith, I’d wanted to talk to you the other day.”

“I’m sorry about that. Between the accident and getting ready to move, I was a little pressed for time,” He said, reminding himself to remain civil.

“Oh, it’s quite alright! I remember how tedious moving can be; why, when Lydia and I moved in here, we were trying to do it with a newborn! I can promise you that was no easy feat!” He laughed, shaking his head again as he seemed to recall that. “Ah, that was a fun one. But, no, I’d wanted to talk to you about one of the young women at our church group. Plays the organ. Gets along well with Emily.”

This gave him pause, his brow knitting a bit. He respected that the Wickerton’s were believers and liked going to church, but he hadn’t known they’d been taking Emi with them. In hindsight, he supposed it made sense; where else was she to go when they went to mass in the morning, after all? “Oh, yeah?” He asked, leaning over and smiling at Emily as she beamed at her paper. Her words were still a little wobbly with her not being completely familiar with how to write the words, but he was still proud of how well she was doing already. “Great job, baby doll.” He pressed a quick peck to the top of her head before offering her folder to her.

“Yes. Grace is an incredibly sweet young lady; earnest and humble and pretty. And, more specifically, she’s single,” Eli said with a grin. Keith could see Mrs. Wickerton coming into the kitchen, Emily’s weekend bag in her hands, Chestnut’s plush head sticking out just the same as it’d been when he dropped her off.

“Mr. Wickerton, I really appreciate it, but-!” He started to say but was cut off when the man pulled a small paper from his pocket and offered it to Keith.

“Oh, don’t worry! We did the hard work for you; got her phone number for you and discussed your situation already! All you have to do is give her a call!”

He could feel his face and ears growing hot and he shifted his attention to helping Emi finish zipping her folder back into her backpack. “I.. I think it’s nice that you worry about my romantic life, really, it’s sweet-!”

“Look, I know that no other girl could ever be as great as my Sadie, but I think it’s time you started looking into finding a new young lady to court! You’ve had three years to grieve but it’s time to keep moving forward! I mean, Emily’s going to need a good mother figure in her life to help you deal with her once she starts getting older and dealing with lady troubles!” Eli insisted, chasing Keith with the paper.

“I already have someone I’m interested in!” He blurted out as he picked up Emi’s backpack, face bright red as he looked down at the older man. This caught them both off guard, gawking at him like hooked trout on a line. “I-I mean… We’re taking it slow, right now. We have some shared interests, and there’s a shared attraction, so we’re just gonna see where this leads. But… At least until I figure out what’s going on there… I… Yeah.” He cut himself off lamely, unsure of what else he could say to explain himself.

Mr. Wickerton hummed before smiling up at him. “Well, that’s fine, too! If things end up going well between you and this mystery woman, you’ll have to introduce us!” He encouraged.

“Yeah, I will,” He mumbled, scrambling to collect his daughter and her things. He didn’t think they’d react well to finding out his interest wasn’t, exactly, in a woman.


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Keith and Hunk starting to get more comfortable with one another, and the banter between them, things are put to the first test: A first date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shatt shown in this chapter

Keith yawned and stretched, arching his back away from the chair, and groaning softly at the small pop that he was awarded with. He glanced over at Emily beside him, little tongue poked out and curled upwards as she aggressively dragged her brown crayon along the page before her, a small smile turning up on his own lips. Her serious concentration face was just so cute. “How’s your homework going?” He asked with a small grin.

“Good!” She said excitedly, setting the crayon aside and holding the page up to show him. The picture before him looked like a strange, brown table that had only three legs with the far back leg being significantly longer than the other two. “Doesn’t it look amazing so far?”

He stole a quick glance at the prompt for her assignment, unsure what it was supposed to be, before nodding. “That’s already looking like a spot-on picture of Chestnut,” He mused.

She beamed and nodded, setting her page back down and picking up her crayon again. “I still need to draw his head and eyes, though. What color should I make his eyes?”

“His eyes are brown, too, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, but brown eyes won’t show up in the picture since his body is brown, too,” She grumbled, tilting her head side to side. She set the crayon aside and started rummaging through her little metal tin of crayons. He chuckled as he headed into the kitchen to check how the slow cook in the crockpot was going. He decided to try out a new barbeque chicken sandwich recipe and had been working on that all day between calls, constantly verifying the instructions in his text log. He then double-checked the timer on the microwave, turning the timer off just before it went off. “I’m gonna give him gold eyes!” Emi suddenly squealed, holding up the glittery crayon in question.

“That’ll look amazing,” He agreed, carefully picking the lid off the crock pot and grabbing the spoon. He stirred it a bit before getting a fork and trying a small bite of the shredded chicken. He hummed in delight at the flavor. The barbeque sauce already have a nice tang, but the little added kick from the tabasco sauce really bumped it up to the next level. He speared out another little bit, blew on it, and made his way over to the table, cupping one hand underneath the fork to avoid dipping. “Do you wanna try some, baby doll?” He asked.

“Mhm,” She said, turning away from her page and taking the offered bite. Her eyes got wide and bright as she chewed, lifting her head to look up at him. “’S really, really, _really_ good!” She enthused.

He smiled and gave her a quick peck on the forehead. “I’m glad! What kind of chips do you want with your sandwich?” He asked as he headed back over to the kitchen. He swiped three paper plates from the top of the fridge where they kept them and set them down by the crock pot. He went to grab the rolls from the pantry just as he heard the front door open. “Welcome home, Mom!” He called over his shoulder.

“Hello,” She called back.

“Nana Olia!” Emil squealed as she scrambled out of her seat and darted over to the front door. Keith chuckled as he peered out the entryway, watching as his daughter launched herself into his mother’s legs. “Welcome home! How was work?” 

Krolia chuckled as she carefully knelt down, scooping the small child up and into her arms. “It was good, thank you for asking. How was school?” She asked as she headed into the kitchen.

The other offered her an exasperated look before throwing her head back with a melodramatic sigh. “Nana Olia… It was a _complete disaster_! We had a communication breakdown under code _yellow_ today!” Keith and Krolia exchanged amused glances as she walked in to the kitchen, heading over to her usual seat and shrugging the strap of her laptop case from her shoulder and moving it to hang on the back of her chair. Krolia worked as a court-appointed mediator for the family courts. Over the years, Emily had picked up on the common terminology her grandmother used when discussing her work for the day - specifically focusing on her color-coded system in regards to communication issues - and loved to implement it herself.

She didn’t always get it right but it was still cute, watching her try to engage on the same level as the adults.

“Give me one second and then I want to hear all about it,” She hummed, giving Emi one last little squeeze before setting her down. She puffed her cheeks out a bit, distressed at being not immediately showered in attention, but scrambled over to her seat at the kitchen table again. Krolia followed Keith into the kitchen to give him a small peck on the forehead. “Dinner smells delicious.”

“Thanks. It’s not a recipe I’ve ever tried before but it seems to have turned out pretty good,” He hummed, using the fork to pull out another small forkful to offer his mother. She returned from the fridge, a pitcher of pink lemonade in her hand, and took the offered bite.

She blinked in surprise, licking her lips a bit as she headed toward the cupboard where they kept the cups. “Oh, that’s great,” She said, plucking two large cups from the cupboard.

He smiled and turned back to the rolls, cutting them open carefully and setting them on their respective plates. “Hunk suggested it to me when I told him I wanted to try and use the crock pot some time,”

“Hmm. He seems to be full of great ideas and suggestions,” She mused, a playful note in her tone as she plucked out Emily’s favorite  _ My Little Pony _ sippy cup.

He felt a flush creep on to his cheeks and he cast a sideways glance at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She let out a playful hum that sounded like an “I don’t know” before taking two of the drinks she’d prepared to the table. She popped back in to grab the last one as Keith started serving the pulled pork onto the cut rolls, settling in to one of the chairs beside Emily. “So, what was this code yellow problem you dealt with today?”

Keith chuckled as she listened to Emily tell the story over again about how Wyatt had taken the ride-in firetruck from Tamara and then refused to say he was sorry, even when MIss Trisha told him he had to. Wyatt was a newer kid to her daycare class, only attending for about two weeks now. From what little Keith was able to pick up on, he had two older brothers, which may explain why he tended to be a bit more grabby with toys and such. Most of the other kids in her class also had siblings, though, so he wasn’t completely sure if that was a solid reason, but he figured it was certainly something to consider.

He made a mental note to ask Hunk if he thought that’d make for an interesting topic for a research paper, should he ever need to approach such a subject.

He brought Krolia and Emily’s plates out first, then grabbed his own and the two bags of potato chips they had. “Do you want regular chips or sour cream and onion?” He asked them.

“Regular, please,” Krolia said.

“Sour cream!” Emi said excitedly, leaning up in her seat.

He chuckled as he gently dumped a small portion of chips on to his Mom’s plate, then picked up the other bag. “You still need to eat your sandwich, though, okay? You can’t just eat the chips and then say you’re full,” He said seriously.

“Mkay!” She agreed, carefully turning her plate and nudging it closer to him, looking from her plate to the bag in his hands expectantly. He pinned her with a look, slowly quirking an eyebrow at her antics, but she only answered with a cheeky little grin. He carefully shook a small amount of chips on to her plate and, seemingly satisfied, she preened up at him. “Thank you, Daddy!” She hummed.

“You’re welcome, baby doll,” He chuckled before depositing some chips on to his own plate. As they settled in, Emily took help of the dinner table chatter, excitedly regaling them with every little thing that had happened so far that week at school. They listened in and reacted as necessary, despite having already heard some of her stories before, though Keith did occasionally have to derail her rambling to remind her to eat her food. He was rather impressed, though, when the sandwich was gone before her chips. She hadn’t necessarily been boycotting eating so much as she seemed to want snacks instead of actual meals. He had an inkling that this had something to do with how she seemed to get whatever she wanted outside of the house with he and Krolia. It was part of why he’d taken Hunk’s suggestion; maybe spicing up their usual menu would help entice her to eat her dinner without a huge fight.

Yet another note to thank Hunk on later.

After dinner, he joined Emi in her room for another episode of Stable Woes, as he liked to call it. If he had to point to anything in specific about his daughter that he found endearing, it was most likely her vast imagination when it came to play time. She had created an entire complicated, soap opera-esque world for the various toys she had. There was the story of Misty the horse who had fallen in love with her owner’s pet tiger, Killer. Or Misty’s sister, Stormy, who left the ranch they lived on to find a magical stone that could turn her into a human. His favorite of her complicated backstories, though, was Ichabod Gregory Denmark Esquire the Twelfth, who was the head stallion of the little horse group, with a family lineage of double-crossing, sordid love affairs and inter-species couplings.

After they played for a good hour or so, he got her in the bath and read her a story. When they’d gone on their little Daddy-Daughter date, they’d walked the mall before going to the movie and hit a little bookstore. He’d had the extra cash to burn, so he’d picked up two big book collections; one of popular fairy tales and one of Disney movies converted into short stories. So far, it’d been a huge hit and she’d picked something from one of them every night. He figured that it was a good way to start working her up towards chaptered stories, too, since he’d read that she’d be hitting that age soon. He tucked her in and pressed a little kiss to the top of her head, chuckling a bit at how her eyelids were already starting to flutter, and slipped out into the hallway quietly. He figured he’d go unload the dishwasher real fast, just so that everything would be good to go come morning.

Krolia was still poised at the dinner table, calmly clacking away at her laptop. “It’s on the drying phase,” She said. He nodded and settled in across from her, pulling up his assignment. He could probably do a quick review of it to make sure there there weren’t any grammatical errors before he submitted it.

It was a quick check and, by the time he was done, the dishes were ready to be put away. With that done, he headed back up to his room, ignoring the amused, knowing grin Krolia flashed him.

Once he was in his room, he flopped over on his bed and fished his phone out of his pocket. He sent a quick text to Hunk, checking to see if he was free to chat. He got a reply less than two minutes later, and then his phone lit up with the call. He smiled, slid the answer button, and then held it up to his war. “Hey,” He greeted, unable to keep a smile from his lips.

“Hey. How did your essay turn out? It’s the one dissecting the significance and damage done by cross-contamination, right?” He asked.

He couldn’t fight back how his smile grew even wider. He’d learned that Hunk had a knack for remembering the little things over the course of the last few weeks they’d developed their near-nightly talks. “Yeah, and pretty good. I got my rough draft finished tonight, so it’s ready to submit on Tuesday,”

“I still think it’s kind of lame your teacher won’t let you submit it early. I mean, it’s not like he accepts a physical copy of drafts or outlines. Why can’t you just email it when you’re done so you can get the feedback sooner?”

“I don’t get it, either, but those are the rules. At least this means I’ve only got three worksheets for my Calculus class to focus on. Other than that, I’m stuck waiting until next week when our groups get assigned for my chemistry class, so we can start working on the final project,” He said, shifting against his bed and readjusting the pillows behind him and bending his knees up slightly closer to his chest.

“Oh, that’s awesome! Got any fun plans with Emily?”

“Nah, she’s going to be with the Wickerton’s this weekend,” He said, picking a piece of lint off of his shirt and rolling it between his fingers. He hadn’t unloaded the full details behind the situation with Lydia and Eli on Hunk, as he didn’t want to put a bad idea in his head about the couple. A part of Keith knew that it was just their weird way of caring about her - even though he thought threatening to separate her from the only parent she knew seemed pretty fucked up - and he didn’t want to poison the well.

After all, if things between he and Hunk continued the way they had been, eventually he’d need to meet them.

Hunk made a contemplative noise. “So, you’ll be rolling alone this weekend?”

“I mean, as alone as you can get when you live with your mom, but yeah,” He chuckled.

There was a quiet noise in the background, something that sounded like a much higher, vibrating doorbell chime. “Oh, hold on. I forgot to feed Nebbie,” He said with a laugh.

Keith could hear the creak of wood as Hunk presumably got up, and then he could heard the sound much louder this time around. When he upped his volume, Nebbie’s cry sounded more like a proper meow. “You’re a monster,” He teased.

“Oh, I know! It’s not like this little fatty got some treats when I got home!” He laughed.

“Well, see, there’s the problem. You can’t give them dessert before dinner; that just spoils the appetite,”

Hunk chuckled and Keith could hear the crackle of a can being opened, followed by a loud, pleading yowl that sounded like it was right against the speaker. There was a bit of shuffle where he was flooded with the noise of muffled static and a small yelp of protest for Hunk. After a second of silence, he could hear the shuffling noise again before a long groan from Hunk. “He headbutted the phone right out of my hand!”

“What?”

“He jumped up on the counter, where I was getting ready to put his gushy food on his little food bowl, and he headbutted my phone right out of my hand! And then he tried to eat the food  _ straight out of the can _ !” He spluttered, though there was still mirth in his tone. “He’s a little  _ savage _ ! Thought I raised him better than that!”

“What did I say about dessert before dinner?”

“I  _ felt bad _ , though! He’s been a good little floof ball this week, keeping up on his pest control duties and being patient while we wait for his new cat tree to come in!”

“Pest control duties?”

“Yeah. See, I like to sit on my back patio when the weather's nice like it’s been. Especially after the sprinklers kick on, and the grass gets freshly watered? It’s such a nice smell!” He rambled on excitedly. Keith chuckled and made a small hum of acknowledgement. His old apartment hadn’t had a patio, or any kind of little grassy knolls anywhere, so he couldn’t exactly say he could relate. But he liked listening to Hunk talk about the little things that he took delight in. It was cute, how excited he would get. “But, ok, back on point! Anyway! The problem I encounter, though, is that I don’t have a screen door on the slider. I  _ used _ to have one, but it kept getting stuck, and when the maintenance guys tried to replace it, they accidentally tore the screen. They said they ordered a new one, but that was, like, six months ago? And it still hasn’t come in? So, whatever. I’m on the third floor, so I don’t have to worry about people just busting in, so I normally just leave the door open. That way, if I want to sit on the couch inside, I can still have the fresh air coming in.”

“Don’t you worry about Nebbie? Doesn’t he try to get out?” He asked worriedly.

“Nah, he’s a clever little loaf. He likes to sit on the guardrail and meow at our neighbors as they mill about downstairs, but he has enough sense to know that trying to jump down would be a bad idea,” There was a quick click, the distinct sound of the a latch being unclasped, then the whoosh of a sliding door being opened. “But, anyway, the only problem with keeping the door open, is that sometimes bugs will get in. Specifically  _ moths _ .”

“Moths?” He parrotted.

“Yes, moths! They’re so _ freaky _ ! They’re like butterflies, but  _ more diabolical _ !”

“Is… Is there a baseline of how diabolical a butterfly can be? And a graph of how big a difference we’re talking on the Evil Scale?” He asked, biting his lip to contain his laughter some. A fear of moths wasn’t something he’d been expecting.

“In fact, I have complied statistically sound evidence through incredibly unbiased research!” He said proudly. “I’d be more than happy to share my findings with you. Maybe this Saturday afternoon, over lunch? If you aren’t already busy, that is.”

Keith nearly choked on his spit. Was he asking him on a date?

“Uh,” He replied lamely.

“Sorry! Was that too forward? Or was it too soon to ask? I mean, we’ve been talking for, like, almost a month now, and I thought maybe it’d be cool to hang out face-to-face! But, like, no pressure!” He blurted out frantically, voice fringed along the edges with panic.

Something about it caused any potential qualms he had to dissipate, relieved he wasn’t the only one treading so cautiously. “No, it’s totally fine. I’d really like that. Did you already have a place in mind?”

Hunk let out this quiet, almost awed little gasp before chuckling. “Yeah, it’s a little local place. You ever hear of  _ Sal’s Greasy Spool _ ?”

“Nah,”

“Perfect! It’s doesn’t look like it, but it’s some of the best food you’ll ever have! Plus, it’s across the street from a little park and some local shops, so we can mill about for a bit after we eat,” He suggested.

Keith smiled and nodded. “I’d really like that,”

“Sweet! I’ll send you the address later, if you wanted to meet up to there,”

“Mkay, sounds good,” He said, pulling one of his pillows to himself and resting it over his knees before setting his chin atop it. “So, did whatever happened with that guy claiming Rax replaced his spark plugs with used ones?”

Hunk took ina  scandalized gasp. “Okay, Keith, let me just say that I have a lot of respect for senior citizens!  _ But this old dude _ -!” He breathed before starting in ona  long tirade about defending the honor of his employee against clearly false accusations.

Once they got off the phone, Keith snuck out to the kitchen to get his laptop. Krolia was curled up against the couch arm closest to the kitchen, flipping the channels. She flashed him a playful grin that left heat crawling up his neck to the tips of his ears. “let me know if you need any help with your calculus worksheets. It’ll be a lot easier to have fun on Saturday if you don’t have any of that to worry about,” She hummed.

He muttered a quick “Thank you,” before scampering upstairs with the computer. Sometimes he hated how easily his Mom could read him.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keith had to double check the address Hunk sent him twice as he parked his car in the little parking lot in front of the restaurant. He remembered that the other had said that it didn’t look like much, but he hadn’t expected… This. The exterior of the place looked a little worn out, with faded paint and some faded graffiti along the side. The sign on the front was also weather-worn and a bit battered, the letters ‘G’, ‘Y’ and ‘L’ missing completely from the lineup.

If it wasn’t for Hunk pulling up and parking right next to him, he’d think he went to the wrong place.

He carefully slipped out and headed over to greet him, perking up with an amused grin when he saw the other rummaging through his glove box for something. “Need to collect your notes regarding the wicked nature of moths?” He asked.

Hunk jumped a bit before turning to offer him a grin. “Ah, no. I actually forgot to bring my research,” He confessed, a look of faux shame taking over his face. He shuffled out the rest of the way to reveal a lint roller in his hand, which he quickly started rolling all over his chest, arms, and as far as he could reach on his back. “See, I had a problem. Namely in that I had to make a certain someone do something he doesn’t like.”

“I take it this involved Nebbie?” He asked, indicating the gray furs sticking to the roller.

“How’d you know?” He asked, a light bit of sarcasm in his tone as he finished up and tossed the roller back into his truck. It was as he was closing the door that Keith noticed a few bandages wrapped around his fingers. “You see, Nebbie’s… How do I put this gently? Nebbie can be the  _ biggest _ jerk in the world when he wants to!”

Keith chuckled and quirked an eyebrow. “Isn’t that the stereotype for cats, though? Being moody and fickle and jerk-esque in demeanor?”

“Most cats, yes. Normally, though, Nebbie isn’t like that. But when it comes to  _ his nails _ ? Oh, he’s such a  _ dick _ !” He groaned, rubbing one hand over his face as they headed up to the little walkway. He walked a few steps ahead and held the door for him with a little grin.

“Thank you,” He said, slipping inside with a little grin. He paused in the little entryway to wait for Hunk and perked up in surprise as he looked around.

The outside certainly seemed to be a misleading little trip. The inside of the place was much more inviting and had a sort of warm feeling to it. The inside had clearly been well-tended and loved, with fresh-looking paint in pastel blue and white checkered pattern. There wasn’t a bar seat area like a lot of dinners he’d seen before, but instead the window to the kitchen was wider and more exposed, allowing them to see almost every little move the chefs inside made. He could hear loud, aggressive shouting of various explicites and instructions on how to correctly prepare some meal. It reminded him of the trailers he’d seen for the cooking shows with Gordon Ramsay in them.

A young lady standing by the little counter where the register was housed perked up and smiled at them brightly, seeming completely unperturbed by the going-ons in the kitchen. “Hello! Give me one second, and I’ll be right there!” She hummed. She clacked something into the register screen before darting over, swiping two menus from a little cubby on the side of the counter as she did. “Welcome to Greasy Sal’s! Just two today?” She asked happily.

“Yeah, just us,” Hunk agreed as he walked up beside Keith.

“Excellent! Would you prefer a booth, or a table?” She asked.

Hunk shrugged. “No preference on my part. How about you?” He asked, glancing at Keith.

“Honestly, a booth would be really nice. On the rare occasion I go out, I usually have to get a table,” He explained. Normally, it was easier to swap out for a high chair or simply clasp a booster seat into place since Emily still needed some help with feeding herself. Well, depending on what they were having, that is.

The hostess nodded. “Excellent! Would you like one by the window, or by the wall?”

“The wall, please,” Keith said.

She quickly jotted something down on a laminated sheet stuck to the little podium before beaming at them and nodding with her head. “Follow me, please,” She said. She glanced at them briefly over her shoulder, smile still in place. “How has the day been treating the two of you, huh?”

“So far so good,” Hunk hummed.

“Same. How about for you?” Keith asked.

“Oh, it’s been a blast! Mr. Sal keeps things really interesting around here!” She giggled as she stopped by a table, stepping aside and gesturing with one hand. “Is this one good?” She asked.

It was located a decent amount away from the other diners inside, giving them a sense of privacy. It was also in the corner, so it looked like there wouldn’t be any risk of a glare from the sun bothering either of them. Keith nodded and carefully slipped into the booth seat on the right side. “This is good. Thank you,” He said.

She beamed and nodded, setting a menu down in front of him as Hunk settled in across from him. Once Hunk was settled in as well, she set his menu down for him. “Your server today will be RJ. She’ll be over shortly to introduce herself. If you need anything at all, just let me know! I’ll be over by the podium or register,” She said, nodding her head over towards where they’d just come from.

“Thank you so much,” Hunk said just as happily before she scampered off. He smiled and opened the menu, indicating a section on the top of the second page. “I’m thinking raspberry lemonade. Feels like a raspberry lemonade kind of day.”

Keith chuckled a bit as he flipped through to the drink selection himself. He was surprised to see that while there was a small selection of sodas, there was mostly freshly prepared juices and lemonades. “Wow, this place is quite a bit different than I was anticipating,” He mused before turning over to the next page to look at the entrees.

“Quick question; do you like deep-fried mushrooms?”

“I like regular mushrooms but I’ve never had them deep-fried,” He commented. He then started skimming through the menu and let out a small hum at one item. “Oh, a chicken salad croissant. That sounds really good.”

“Hello!” A voice chimed, causing them both to perk up. Standing before them in was a server with silver dyed hair tugged back in a bun with some turquoise stripes. She reached into the little apron at the front of her powder blue uniform and pulled out a little tablet. “I’m RF, and I’ll be looking after you today. How are you doing?”

“Pretty good, thank you,” Keith mused.

“Same. How about you?”

“Oh, you know, as good as I can at work,” She teased, clacking away at the little pad. After a moment she glanced up from her tablet to glance between them. “Can I get some drinks started for you?”

“I’ll take a strawberry lemonade, please,” Keith hummed.

“I’ll take a raspberry lemonade. Oh, and can we put in for an order of deep fried mushrooms?” Hunk asked.

“Of course! Any dressings you need for dipping?” She asked as she put in the drinks.

“Do you still have that Chipotle mayonnaise sauce?”

“Yup!”

“Awesome. I’d like that. How about you?” He asked, looking at Keith with a smile.

“Do you have honey mustard?” He asked. She smiled and nodded before putting the info in.

“Mkay, I’ll have those drinks out in a flash, and I’ll bring those mushrooms out as soon as they’re up,” SHe said happily. SHe then indicated the menu. “Oh! Also, today’s lunch special is our toasted tuna salad sandwich with a side of your choice from three soups, if either of you were interested.” She mused before tucking the tablet away and heading off.

Once she walked away, Keith leaned back in his seat and pinned Hunk with a quirked eyebrow. “Okay, so, explain the situation with Nebbie. I mean, it must have been serious if you forgot your carefully collected research to share with me,” He chuckled.

Hunk chuckled and held his hands up. “Okay, so, here’s a little thing about cats,” He started, “just in case you’ve never had one before. Sometimes, cats need to have their nails trimmed; particularly if they’re not good at using scratching posts.”

“Which Nebbie isn’t good at, I take it?”

“Well, normally, he’s okay at it, but his old cat tree was getting old and the scratchers on them were all tattered and bad. I have a new one coming in the mail, but that’s not really a fix right now. So, I had to trim his nails because they were getting way too out of hand,” He said. The server popped by to drop of their drinks. They quickly thanked her before she headed off again. “But he  _ hates _ getting his nails trimmed! I’ve been doing this since he was just an itty bitty baby Nebbie but still!”

Keith snorted a bit as he took a sip of his drink, humming in surprise. Stuck to the edge of the glance was a fresh strawberry, which he paused to lightly squeeze and drip some more strawberry juice into it, mixing it with his straw. “Doesn’t get any easier?”

“It gets  _ harder _ ! He’s 24 pounds of  _ pure rage _ when it comes to his nails getting cut! He’ll scream and squirm and fuss! I try giving him treats? He’s still  _ pissed _ ! I try getting while he’s asleep? Wakes up and gets  _ pissed _ ! I try talking to him in the sweet, baby-talk he tends to like?  _ Still. Gets. Pissed. _ It’s like, dude, just calm down! If you give me less than five minutes, you’ll be done and I won’t potentially snip a digit off of either of us!” He lamented, rolling his eyes a bit as he discussed the theatrics of his cat.

The server walked back over to set down a little basket filled with piping hot chunks of battered goodness, two cups of sauce, and two little plates for each of them while Keith outright laughed at the vision in his head. Imagining Hunk with Nebbie hoisted and pinned against himself with one arm, cooing at the thrashing and yowling fluff ball, while the other tried to fenaggle the nail clippers over his little claws. Once his chuckles had subsided a bit, they placed their meal order, with Keith opting into the chicken salad croissant with sweet potato fries while Hunk took an open-faced turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes.

“See, the closest I can relate to is when Emily was a baby and I had to trim her up when she started to get little claws,” He said, carefully taking the cup of honey mustard and setting it on the little plate set before him. He then tossed a couple of the deep fried mushrooms on his plate and took another quick sip of his drink. He grabbed one of the little bits and dipped it, trying to keep from getting too much sauce on it. “Though, cats and an infant are kinda two different ballparks.”

“Not really, from what I’ve seen. My nephew hated getting his nails cut when he was a baby. One time, because he was squirming so much, Archie accidentally clipped off some of his skin and gave him a little cut. I never saw him so mopey before,” He said with a small chuckle and shake of his head, dipping one of the mushroom bites into his sauce and tossing it in his mouth.

“I don’t blame him. I always felt so mean when I had to trim Emi’s nails,” He chuckled before tossing his own mushroom in his mouth, then froze as he chewed. “Oh, my God!” He choked out around his swallow, swiping up another one and dipping it into his honey mustard eagerly.

Hunk flashed him a proud grin. “Good, right? Everything they make here is super fresh! Like, they actually batter the mushrooms fresh and everything!” He said happily. He then held his cup of sauce out towards him. “Here, if you like a little bit of kick, try this.”

Keith dipped it and tossed it in, humming in delight at the blend of spices. It wasn’t too hot, but it had just enough of a kick to be good. “How have I never heard of this place before?” He asked after he swiped a quick sip from his drink.

“This place got seriously overhauled a few years back. I used to come here when I first started college, since it was one of the few places within walking distance of me and Lance’s apartment that was 24-hours. Sal, the owner, started asking me for input on new items he wanted to try, since he did all his experimenting on the late night shift when there were fewer customers, and then he integrated what got the best reviews over to the full menu,” He said. He then waved one hand around them. “They’ve been slowly working their way into the spotlight, hence the gradual remodelling. This is probably one of the best local joints you can go to here in town.”

“So I take it you’re the man to ask for recommendations?” Keith hummed.

“I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a foodie. Comes with getting a minor in culinary arts,” He said with a chuckle, stirring his drink a bit before taking a sip. “Oh, there’s a really nice Italian place over on third you should check out some time. They have a little station where kids can make their pizzas all by themselves.”

He perked up and chuckled. “Knowing Emily, she’d probably try to make the pizza look like Killer or Misty. Oh, or maybe she’d go with Ichabod. She’s been really focused on him lately,” He mused.

“I take it those are some of her toys?” Hunk asked.

He flushed a bit and nodded, twirling his straw in his drink. “Oh, yeah. She’s got this whole elaborate story going on with her toys,”

“Well, see, now you’ve got me interested. Care to enlighten me on what these going-ons are?” He asked, his tone just a bit teasing, but there was a certain level of restraint in his tone. As if he was leaving an opening that, if Keith didn’t want to talk about Emily and her toys, he could back out of it without any fuss.

It was different. He liked it.

“Okay, so, most of these toys are horses, just so you’ll have an idea of what to envision,” He prefaced, holding one hand up. Hunk chuckled and nodded, sitting and listening as Keith began breaking down the complicated history of the animals of Sunny Brooke Ranch.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keith had to fight back a yawn as he settled into the park bench, rubbing at his eyes a bit. “Daddy!” An excited voice squealed, causing him to perk up and plaster on a smile.

He pushed himself up from the bench and knelt down just as Emily came barrelling into his arms, causing him to let out a small groan at the force. “Hey there, baby doll. Did you have fun with Uncle Shiro and Uncle Matt last night?” He mused, leaning back a bit to look at her. He then blinked and chuckled, gently poking one of the little buns on either side of her head. “Oh, that’s cute.”

She beamed at him and nodded. “Uncle Shiro did it! He said he needs to learn, since they’re gonna have a baby soon, too!” She said excitedly, bouncing on her feet.

His eyes widened a bit before he glanced up and offered a smile at the two approaching men. “Dang, not good at keeping secrets, are ya?” Matt teased.

She blinked then looked down at her little sneakers sadly. “ ‘M sorry. I just got so excited,” She mumbled softly.

Shiro gave Matt a small shove before kneeling down to face her. “Hey, Uncle Matt’s just teasing. It’s okay that you told your Daddy,” He said softly.

“Really?” She looked up at him, then over at Keith, then back at Shiro.

“Of course, sweetie,” Shiro chuckled.

She brightened back up immediately. “Can me and Chestnut play on the swing?”

All three chuckled at her excitement. Matt shrugged her overnight bag off his shoulder and set it on the bench, unzipping it long enough to produce the plush horse. “Sure thing. Come on, I’ll teach you how to play Underdog,” He said, offering her doll as well as one of his hands.

With Matt keeping her occupied, Keith and Shiro settled on the bench again.

“So, it’s official? You guys found a surrogate?” Keith asked.

Shiro hummed and nodded, watching as Matt carefully buckled Emi in to the swing. “Yup. If everything goes well, then it sounds like she might be able to get pregnant around June or July, so we’d have the baby by next February or March,”

“That’s plenty of time to prepare for the baby, too. Congrats,” He mused, following the other’s gaze. They watched as Matt pulled the swing as far back as he could, then ran underneath shouting “Underdog!” as he let go, sending her up high with excited squeals. He’d had a hunch that something was going on with the surrogate situation when they’d asked if they could take Emi for a sleep over the previous night, but he’d been worried that it was bad news. “You’re going to be incredible parents.”

“Thanks. I certainly hope so,” He said with a nervous laugh, reaching up and pushing some of the white tuft of hair out of his face.

“Hey, if _ I _ can be a decent dad, you two have nothing to worry about,” Keith said with a small scoff.

Shiro blinked, brows knitting in concern. “You aren’t just a decent dad, Keith; you’re a phenomenal dad. You’ve been doing all that you can to take care of her all on your own for so long, and you’ve made sure she knows that she’s loved. That’s pretty incredible on it’s own,” He pointed out, reaching over to give his shoulder a small squeeze.

Keith offered him a small smile before looking back over at her. “I just… Sometimes I feel like she’s got the short end of the stick, being stuck with just me, you know? I mean, none of the kids in her day care class are single parents,” He pointed out. A part of him also wanted to point out how well Shiro and Matt looked after her when they took her, but knew better. He didn’t want to hurt the other’s feelings by making him think he was bitter or resentful of how well they treated his daughter.

“That’s never seemed to bother her. Our strange little family seems like plenty of love as far as she’s concerned,”

“She’s never said anything, but still,” He said with a small sigh and exasperated shrug.

Seeming to sense Keith didn’t want to keep up on this subject, and knowing when to fold, Shiro gave his shoulder one last squeeze before sliding it away. “Well, for what it’s worth, I think Hunk is a great choice to be her new Mommy,” He said in that dry-too-serious-but-clearly-teasing tone that only Takashi Shirogane had ever been able to do. He flushed and looked back up at him, brain trying to kick start some kind of jab to respond with, but utterly failing. “Speaking of, how was the double date last night with Lance and Allura?”

Keith felt a little indignation but cast it aside in favor of getting to chat a little. Krolia had gone out for breakfast with Kolivan that morning, and he’d taken advantage of Emi being out to sleep in a little, so he hadn’t properly gushed. “It was a blast. We went to Orange Wasp for karaoke and half-priced apps,”

“Oh, did you actually sing?”

“After my second or third long island iced tea, yes,” He chuckled back.

Shiro laughed as well. “Ah, see, you’ve needed a nice night out! What did you sing?”

“Hunk and I did a duet of  _ Pork and Beans _ , which was a blast. And later on they convinced me to go up and single solo. Picked a Fall Out Boy song for that, but I can’t remember which one,” He admitted with a small shrug. It wasn’t a song he’d been particularly familiar with, but he’d known the beat of it well enough to fake it well enough to impress the equally tipsy restaurant patrons. It wasn’t nearly as great and when Allura and Lance went up to perform  _ Bring me to Life _ by Evanescence and the whole crowd cheered at his solid Amy Lee impersonation. Keith himself thought that Hunk’s rendition of  _ Happy _ by Pharrell Williams or  _ Fool’s Rush In _ by Elvis Presley were the real show-stoppers, though. He couldn’t hit quite the high pitch William’s had in his song, but he found just the right octave to sing it lower down that it still sounded great.

Shiro hummed and nodded. “I’m glad you and Hunk are hitting it off so well. If I’d known that you were looking to date again, I probably would have pestered Matt about getting his number for you,”

“I wasn’t really planning to date, but… Well, he was interested in me,” Keith said, not bothering to hide his befuddlement at that.

“Hmm. Someone being interested in you? Color me  _ shocked _ ,” The other scoffed, just a bit of sarcasm in his tone, and leaned back to pull Emily’s overnight bag closer to himself. He rummaged through it for a moment before offering Keith a canned soda, pulling one out for himself, before glancing back over at the playground and shaking his head at the antics taking place before them. Matt and Emi had moved from the swings over to the large, spiral slide. She was standing at the top, hesitating on going down as she verified for the third time that he’d be waiting for her at the bottom.

“It’s more far-fetched than you’d think,” He scoffed back, glaring slightly before looking back over. He lightly tapped the top of the can before cracking it open and taking a sip. Water would have probably been a better idea with the mild hangover he was sporting, but the caffeine was more of a necessity at the moment. “You remember what happened when I first started dating again after everything with Sadie. How poorly it all went.” He tipped his head back and took a quick swig from his can, chuckling as Emi ran back over to shout at Matt from the edge, making sure he was still standing right at the base of the slide, waiting for her.

“Lots of assholes, I remember that,” Shiro agreed, his own tone a bit more reserved now. He hadn’t gone on a lot of dates, since his main focus was getting things settled with himself and Emily, but he’d talked to a few people that had been interested until they found out he was a single dad. And then the three he’d actually gone out with, who claimed they were open-minded about the fact he had a baby,  had been awful. Getting badgered about why he was a single parent, on the specifics of what happened to Sadie, getting accused of just wanting a partner to help take care of her. Plus, there’d been the jackass that had questioned if Keith was actually bisexual since he’d gotten a girl pregnant.

He’d felt no shame in giving that guy’s number to everyone and revelling in the hilarity of the crank calls they all made.

“Yeah,” He mumbled, shaking his head as Emily finally went down the slide. Matt scooped her up and spun her around in celebration. She could be such a little stinker when she wanted to be.

“But Hunk made the first move. He reached out to you first, knowing you have a kid,” The other pointed out.

“Yeah, he did,” He mumbled, taking another quick sip of his drink.

“And he’s been good to you on all three dates you’ve been on,”

“Well, three and a half,”

“ _ Three and a half _ ?”

“We grabbed some lunch together from a taco truck between his shop and the college on Wednesday. I mean, I don’t know if it counts-!”

“Oh, it  _ totally _ does! And now I’m offended that you didn’t tell me sooner,” He huffed, tilting his head away in faux-hurt. He rolled his eyes and reached over, pinch just above the other’s ribcage and smirking in satisfaction when he wretched away with a choked snort. “Rude!”

He laughed and shook his head, perking up as Emi and Matt headed back over. He chugged the rest of his soda can before moving to get up as she headed over. Instead, though, she held her arms up to him expectantly. He scooped her up and pulled her up into his lap, looking at her curiously. “Daddy, ‘m hungry!” She proclaimed.

“What kind of nonsense is this? You two borrow my kid and then don’t even have the decency to feed her before returning her?” He teased, casting a glance over at the other two.

Shiro held his hands up defensively while Matt shrugged.

While neither of them was open to explain, Emily took the chance. “I’m wasting away to  _ nothing _ ! And I’m  _ so _ dehydrated, too!” She whined, slumping against Keith’s shoulder and looking up at him with those pleading baby blues.

Matt let out some kind of scandalized noise while Keith cackled, snuggling her up closer to himself. “Oh, my poor baby girl! Sounds like we need to find something to fix this!”

“Only waffles can save me now. And strawberry milk!” She said excitedly.

“Well,” Shiro said as he pushed himself to stand, “there’s a place not too far from here. Pur treat, since this does fall back on us.”

“You sure? I could make some waffles at home,”

“But do we have strawberry milk at home? I don’t think so!” Emi said, looking at him knowingly. Before he could answer, she turned to look at the other two men as if she were some benevolent, forgiving empress. “That would be nice. Thank you.”

All three laughed at her antics before heading back to their cars. Matt gave him the quick rundown of how to get to the restaurant, just in case they got separated, while he buckled her in. He and Shiro did a quick check of her bag to make sure she had everything and, after a quick jog back to the swings to get Chestnut, they started to head out. “Hey, about earlier,” Shiro said, catching Keith’s arm before he opened the driver’s side door, “if you really want to test Hunk’s resolve, the best way would be to introduce them properly. Maybe see how he handles her on a night out.” He released Keith’s arm and gave him a quick wink as he backed up to join Matt again. “I mean, just a thought since you’ve been on three and a half dates now!” He called, making sure to up his volume so he was overheard. 

“Wait, the fucking phone! When the fuck did they go on a half date?” Matt sputtered from his position, hovering in the driver’s door of their car.

“On Wednesday, apparently!”

“Keith,  _ you floozy _ !”

Keith laughed and climbed into the car, perking up when curious blue eyes met him through the rear view mirror. “What’s up, buttercup?” He asked.

“What’s a floozer?” She asked.

“It’s one of those weird Uncle Matt words I’ve told you about,” He hummed, turning the car on. She let out a small ‘oh’ sound as he loaded up his iPod and turned on  _ Zero to Hero _ for her. She’d been on a big  _ Hercules _ kick lately.

As they rode down, his mind pulled back up the memories of the first time he’d met Hunk, back after that car accident. It seemed forever ago, despite it only being a little over two months, but he could still remember how gentle and patient the other had been while Emily hit him with question after question. Even silly questions, like what his favorite color or type of tree was, were met with a kind and warm response. At the time, Keith had just been surprised to meet a mechanic who was so friendly. Now, however, he realized that while part of it was simply that Hunk was just that sweet of a guy, part of it was also that he acknowledged that she was a curious kid and knew how to engage with her. And he still remembered how, when he’d pointed out to Hunk that he was a parent, that hadn’t scared him away. And he hadn’t been bothered when Keith rambled about the latest dramatic turn on Stable Woes the night before, laughing and ohing at each appropriate point, seeming to find all of it interesting and entertaining.

Maybe Shiro was right about putting him to the test.


End file.
